Inventory continues to rise in Chinese manganese ore market

The Chinese domestic manganese ore market has mostly moved on a stable trend in the past seven days, though with slight downticks also seen in prices of some materials. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $6.36-6.53/dmtu at China's Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $6.36-6.53/dmtu. Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 44 percent grade Mn ore from Gabon are at $6.04/dmtu, while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $5.38/dmtu.
 
Manganese alloy production in China has not yet returned to normal levels following the recent holiday and so domestic demand for manganese ore is still very low. Meanwhile, manganese ore inventory levels at Chinese ports have reached their highest level since April 2012. The high inventory levels will obviously bring a lot of pressure to bear on manganese ore prices in China. Although demand for manganese ore in the country is expected to improve when domestic alloy production starts to increase, this is unlikely to alter the weak tendency of the manganese ore market. For the coming week, it is thought that China's domestic manganese ore market will mainly be characterized by a sideways trend, with some slight decreases also.