Chinese silico manganese prices refresh 2-year low

Chinese silicomanganese (SiMn) prices continued weakening over the past week, with the national price of 6517 SiMn under Mysteel's assessment sliding to Yuan 6,817/tonne ($970/t) including the 13% VAT as of May 19, down another Yuan 35/t on week and refreshing the lowest since April 30 2021.

Despite the continuous fall last week, market participants expect domestic SiMn prices to stabilize soon on support of the better-than-expected bidding prices tabled by major steel producers, and the improved transactions in the physical market, Mysteel Global learned.

Last Tuesday, Hebei Iron and Steel Group (HBIS), a major steelmaker in North China's Hebei province, confirmed its buying price of this ferroalloy for May delivery at Yuan 7,150/t, higher by Yuan 50/t from its first-round inquiry price, according to Mysteel's survey.

"Trading activity in the physical market became active, as more steel mills returned to the market for procurement when HBIS's SiMn procurement price was finalized," a market source in Shanghai said.

Besides, Chinese SiMn prices are expected to gain some support from the cost side, as domestic smelters' production costs may stabilize soon, with signs of an end to the decrease in prices of feed raw materials such as manganese ore, Mysteel Global noted.

As of May 19, the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade Mn ore at North China's Tianjin port was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 31/dmtu including the 13% VAT, unchanged from one week before, as some domestic traders refused to trim their offering prices further given the higher prices that they had paid for the ore initially

Chinese SiMn production has continued to move up slightly, with the daily SiMn output among the 121 domestic smelters under Mysteel's regular survey averaging 28,832 tonnes/day over May 12-18, up for the second week by another 1,042 t/d on week. The 121 sampled smelters host 94% of the country's SiMn smelting capacity.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.