The demand to import manganese ore into China has at last seen a turning point. The reason is the excessive imports of manganese ore by China in the past years and the decreased production of ferro-alloys in China has made a pursuit. The background is the reduced steel production in China and a depression of the steel markets in overseas countries, There is a strong anxiety in China that the stocks of manganese ore in China are anticipated to reach the scale of 5.5 months against its monthly consumption in January - March quarter of 2009. Therefore, major manganese mines, excluding BHP Billiton, in South Africa, Gabon and Brazil have entered into the structure to adjust their shipments of manganese ore for China from October - December quarter of 2008 and this tendency has a possibility to continue by January - March quarter of 2009.
Since China has been exporting manganese ferro-alloys on a substantial scale from 1981, the demand to import manganese ore into China has increased to a considerable extent and, as a matter of fact, China imported 6,600,000 tons of manganese ore in 2007. Also, the quantity of manganese ore to be imported into China in 2008 is anticipated to increase to more than 7,000,000 tons per annum. However, a peak of the imports has at last come up.
The price of manganese ore (siliceous ore with Mn 44 - 45%) proposed by major manganese mines of overseas countries for shipments in October - December quarter of 2008 was US$16.30 per Mn 1% CIF China but regular consumers of China disliked this high price and most of them skipped to conclude the contracts for October - December quarter. Accordingly, the price of manganese ore to be shipped to China in October - December quarter has come to be nominal and the contracts to import manganese ore into China for this quarter are thought to have nearly nothing. |
