China's H1 manganese ore imports fall 8.7% on year

Mysteel Global: China's imports of manganese ore during the first half of this year totalled 13.99 million tonnes (mnt), lower by 1.33 mnt or 8.7% from January-June last year, according to the latest data released by China's General Administration of Customs (GACC). The significant fall was mainly due to the country's shrinking consumption of this ore from the lower run-rates being observed by China's manganese alloy smelters, Mysteel Global noted.

Over January-June, China produced 5.05 mnt of silico manganese, sliding by 8.3% compared with the same period last year, as many domestic silico manganese smelters conducted maintenance on their smelting facilities during March-April or slowed their pace of production in response to serious losses on their sales of the ferroalloy, according to Mysteel's survey among the 187 Chinese smelters under its tracking. The sampled smelters host 99% of China's silico manganese smelting capacity.

Besides, shipments of manganese ore from Australia declined sharply since the second half of March due to the damage at Groote Eylandt port caused by Tropical Cyclone Megan in mid-March.

South32, the world's largest manganese miner headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, said in its latest quarterly report that there was no production of manganese ore at its Australia Manganese joint venture over April-June, and that wharf operations are not scheduled to recommence until the first quarter of 2025, as reported.

Mysteel's survey showed that the volume of manganese ore delivered to Chinese ports under its tracking from South Africa, Australia and Gabon totalled 10.6 mnt over the first six months of this year, lower by 11.1% on year. Among the total, the tonnage shipped from Australia slumped by 34% on year to 1.53 mnt during the same period.

For June alone, China's manganese ore imports registered 2.14 mnt, falling by 12.1% from the previous month, according to the GACC data, as the import volume from Australia stayed low, and mines in Gabon shipped more manganese ore to India, causing their deliveries to China to decrease.

China's manganese ore prices lost ground in June with the pressure of the weakening silico manganese prices in both the physical and futures markets. As of 28 June, the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China's Tianjin port under Mysteel's assessment reached yuan 47.5/dmtu ($6.5/dmtu) including the 13% VAT, down by yuan 6.5/dmtu on month.

By the end of June, the national price of 6517 silico manganese was assessed by Mysteel at yuan 7,303/t including the 13% VAT, sliding by yuan 1,312/t compared with one month earlier.

As for the derivative market, the most-traded silico manganese contract on the Zhengzhou Futures Exchange for delivery in January 2025 closed the daytime trading session at yuan 7,862/t on 28 June, lower by yuan 1,718/t from the settlement price on 31 May, according to the exchange's data, indicating the negative sentiment in the domestic market.

The depressed sales in the spot market led manganese ore inventories at China's major ports to increased somewhat last month. By end-June, the total volume of this ore at the ports under Mysteel's regular tracking came in at 4.82 mnt, higher by 5.2% from the end of May.

This article has been published under an agreement between BigMint and Mysteel