- China manganese ore prices hit 14-month low
- High inventories, weak demand pressure market
China’s manganese ore market extended its downtrend during the past week, with the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China’s Tianjin port under Mysteel’s assessment sitting at Yuan 32.8/dmtu ($4.9/dmtu) including the 13% VAT on August 11, slipping by Yuan 0.7/dmtu on week and recording the lowest since June 20 2025.
High inventories of manganese ore at China’s major ports were considered one major reason for the persistent weakness in spot sales prices of this ore, Mysteel Global learned.
As of August 6, the tonnage of manganese ore stocked at the Chinese ports monitored by Mysteel totaled 5.84 million tonnes, mounting by 59,000 tonnes or 1% compared with one week before.
Manganese ore supply remained sufficient with an influx of this raw material delivered to China’s major ports. Mysteel’s weekly survey showed that over July 31-August 6, total volume of manganese ore arriving from the four major exporters-South Africa, Australia, Gabon and Ghana-reached 735,700 tonnes, jumping by 293,600 tonnes or 66.4% from the prior week.
However, demand from downstream alloy smelters in China softened due to their production slowdowns, leaving port stocks of manganese ore persistently high and exerting significant pressure on the domestic market, Mysteel Global noted.
The daily silicomanganese (SiMn) output among the 187 Chinese smelters under Mysteel’s tracking averaged 22,440 tonnes/day over July 24-30, falling for the sixth consecutive week by 1,270 t/d on week and marking the lowest since mid-September 2022. The 187 sampled smelters host about 99% of China’s SiMn smelting capacity.
Many domestic manganese ore traders are reluctant to make further concessions to the offering prices, as many have been operating at a loss due to high import costs. Meanwhile, the recovery in SiMn prices has also encouraged some of them to hold back on offers and wait for clearer market signals. This may cause manganese ore prices to stay rangebound at the bottom rather than continue to decline in the near term.
On August 11, Mysteel assessed the national price of 65-17 SiMn at Yuan 5,619/t including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 82/t from one week before.
Note: This article has been published in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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