Mysteel: China’s manganese ore prices weakened again this week after the recovery in the second half of last week, mainly due to negative market sentiment prevailing in the domestic market with poor performance in prices of manganese alloys, Mysteel Global learned.
As of May 27, the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China’s Tianjin port was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 33.5/dmtu ($4.6/dmtu) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 0.5/dmtu on week or down by Yuan 1/dmtu from the recent high on May 23.
Many domestic manganese ore traders are pessimistic about the prices of this ore in the near term after noting the fast fall in prices of silicomanganese (SiMn) in both physical and futures markets.
For example, China’s national price of 6517 SiMn under Mysteel’s assessment came in at Yuan 5,524/t including the 13% VAT on Tuesday, lower by Yuan 104/t on week. Meanwhile, the most-traded SiMn contract on the Zhengzhou Futures Exchange for September delivery slipped for the third working day to close yesterday’s daytime trading session at Yuan 5,616/t, slumping by Yuan 178/t from the settlement price a week ago.
Inventories of manganese ore at China’s major ports continued to move up recently with increased ore deliveries to the ports, which also put some pressure on the country’s manganese ore prices, Mysteel Global noted.
As of last Friday, total manganese ore stocks at the sampled ports monitored by Mysteel registered 4.2 million tonnes, growing for the third straight week by 25,000 tonnes on week.
However, on Tuesday, South32, the world’s top manganese ore miner headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, decided to raise its offering price for South Africa-origin 37% grade manganese ore lump by $0.05/dmtu on month to $3.85/dmtu CIF China for shipments in July, indicating support for China’s manganese ore prices from the cost side, according to Mysteel’s survey.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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