Trading remains slow in local Chinese manganese ore market

In the past week, the Chinese domestic manganese ore market has generally remained stable, though also indicating some slight downticks. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $6.36-6.44/dmtu at China's Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $6.20-6.28/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.
 
The trading volume in the Chinese domestic manganese ore market has remained at a low level in the past week, while traders are willing to give some discounts on prices in actual transactions. Overseas miners BHP Billiton and Consolidated Minerals Ltd (CML) have kept their quotations for March stable compared to their quotations for January and February. However, it is believed that, with the continuing weak situation in the domestic manganese ore market, there is a strong possibility that overseas suppliers' quotations for April will indicate a decline. Meanwhile, the downstream manganese alloy market is unlikely to provide any boost for manganese ore demand and so China's domestic manganese ore market may be characterized by a weak trend in the coming period.