Asian manganese ore market to move down
2008-11-13 09:40:07 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 13 Nov 08 – Asian manganese ore market is in decline dragged by the sluggish demand from smelters of silicomanganese and ferromanganese. Market participants believe it will continue in the downward tend in the coming months as its upstream industry is not going to pick up in the short term.
An Indian trader sold a small batch of South Africa manganese ore 46%min at USD600/t delivered to a long-term buyer in India this week.
“The price has decreased by one third from its peak till now, and it is likely to drop further dragged by the weakening demand,” said the source. “We used to import 500t of manganese ore per month from South Africa into Indian market, but the volume was only 300t last month. It will decrease further this month as more and more smelters halt production.”
In the meanwhile, a supplier in Singapore informed the market is quite sluggish and disappointing. The source delivered 200t of Indonesian lumps 40% to Chinese port late last month according to the contract signed with a Chinese trader a month ago at USD7.5/dmtu CIF CMP, but the trader refused to accept the cargo, because the price was dropping sharply in China. "Now we can not find any buyer interested in the material," said the source. “The market will move down further due to current economic recession.”
The source is running with an output of 1,000tpm of manganese ore 40%min in Indonesia.
