At present, manganese ore market continues to maintain downtrend for tepid demand. Mn46 lumps tumbled at RMB40-41/mtu and RMB39-40/mt for Mn48 sands.South African Mn38 lumps dipped to around RMB34-34.5/mtu, Brazilian Mn 44-45 lumps lowered to RMB37-37.5/mtu while RMB38-38.5/mtu for Gabonese Mn 45-46 lumps. It seems that manganese ore prices fail to stop sliding due to poor situation for manganese alloy market coupled with high inventories for ore.
On the one hand, ore spot supply is still sufficient in China; On the other hand, increasing production costs ranging from human resource cost to environmental protection fee aggravate manganese alloy producers’ operational pressure. What’s more, Chinese steel mills further cut January bidding price on manganese alloy, under such affect, alloy suppliers have little interest on manganese ore buying.