China's manganese ore imports jump 14% m-o-m in Aug'24
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Mysteel: China's manganese ore imports witnessed significant growth in August 2024, with the volume rising for the second month consecutively. Imports increased by 318,204 tonnes (t) or 13.9% m-o-m from July to reach 2.61 million tonnes (mnt) in August, according to the latest data released by China's General Administration of Customs (GACC).
The m-o-m rise in imports occurred mainly because China received more ore from non-mainstream overseas miners in August, Mysteel Global learned.
However, domestic manganese ore prices declined further last month due to the lower consumption of this ore after smelters cut output, sources said. The producers were responding to the persistently weak prices of manganese alloys such as silico manganese.
As of 30 August, prices of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade Mn ore at North China's Tianjin Port were assessed by Mysteel at RMB 33/dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) ($4.7/dmtu), including 13% VAT, falling by another RMB 5.5/dmtu from the end of July. During the same period, the national price of 6517 silico manganese under Mysteel's assessment slipped by RMB 436/t to reach RMB 6,038/t, including the 13% VAT.
Last month, daily silico manganese output among the 187 Chinese silico manganese smelters under Mysteel's regular tracking averaged 27,321 t/day, lower by 4,548 t/d from the July average. The sampled smelters host 99% of China's silico manganese smelting capacity.
The jump in import volume and the decline in demand from the alloy smelters meant that inventories of Mn ore at China's major ports climbed steadily last month to reach 5.52 mnt as of 30 August, up by 558,000 t or 11.2% m-o-m, according to Mysteel's weekly survey.
For the first eight months of this year, China's imports of manganese ore totalled 18.9 mnt, still lower by 1.44 mnt or 7.1% compared with the same period last year, the GACC statistics showed.
This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.