As of June 4, the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China’s Tianjin port was assessed by Mysteel at RMB 33/dmtu ($4.6/dmtu) including the 13% VAT, dipping by RMB 0.2/dmtu from one week before.
However, the price decrease narrowed slightly in the recent week, as bearish sentiment in the domestic manganese ore market eased somewhat following a recovery in silicomanganese (SiMn) futures prices on Wednesday, and some Chinese manganese ore traders refused to make more concessions in their offering prices.
On the Zhengzhou Futures Exchange, the most-traded SiMn contract for September delivery closed Wednesday’s daytime trading sessions at RMB 5,502/t, higher by RMB 114/t from the prior day’s settlement price, but it was still RMB 112/t lower than the settlement price recorded one week before.
SiMn prices in the physical market also weakened further on a weekly basis, with the national price of 6517 SiMn under Mysteel’s assessment reaching RMB 5,410/t including the 13% VAT as of June 4, lower by another RMB 114/t on week.
Given the persistently poor performance of spot SiMn prices, Chinese smelters are trying to reduce buying prices of manganese ore to ease their losses on SiMn sales. This trend may add pressure on the country’s prices of manganese ore going forward, Mysteel Global noted.
Inventories of manganese ore at China’s major ports declined slightly as the tonnage delivered from major overseas exporters to China slipped. Mysteel’s latest weekly survey showed that as of May 30, total manganese ore stocks at the sampled ports monitored by Mysteel reached 4.07 million tonnes, reversing down 135,000 tonnes or 3.2% on week after the continuous rally over the prior three weeks.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
Leave a Reply