China: Manganese ore imports rise 12% y-o-y in 2025

• Manganese ore prices climb up in Dec despite higher port stocks
• Higher miner offers, silico manganese rates support ore prices

Mysteel Global: China’s manganese ore imports during 2025 totalled 32.81 million tonnes (mnt), higher by 3.52 mnt or 12% compared with the previous year, according to the latest data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC).

During December alone, the country imported 3.27 mnt of manganese ore, surging by 579,966 t or 17.7% from that for November, the GACC statistics showed.

With the higher import volume, inventories of manganese ore at China’s major port increased slightly last month, with the total tonnage at the ports standing at 4.47 mnt by the end of December, some 85,000 t or 1.9% more than at end-November, according to Mysteel’s survey.

The slight accumulation of port stocks had no significant impact on manganese ore prices last month, however. This was partly due to the cost support provided by higher offers from overseas manganese ore miners, which lifted the import costs for Chinese traders and prompted them to raise their prices for spot ore sales.

Mysteel’s assessment showed that as of 31 December, prices of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China’s Tianjin port were at RMB 35/dmtu ($5/dmtu), including 13% VAT, increasing by RMB 0.8/dmtu from one month earlier.

Meanwhile, stable production of domestic manganese alloy smelters and the recovery in silico manganese (SiMn) prices also lent some support to manganese ore prices, Mysteel Global noted.

For December, total silico manganese production among the 187 Chinese smelters under Mysteel’s tracking reached 843,495 t, easing by a tiny 5,290 t or 0.6% from the November total. The sampled smelters host 99% of China’s silico manganese smelting capacity.

On 31 December, Mysteel assessed the national price of 6517 silico manganese at RMB 5,652/t, including 13% VAT, higher by RMB 158/t from the end of November.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.