India: Imported Manganese Ore Prices Stabilizes Due to Low Demand

Manganese ore prices skyrocketed amid anticipation of supply shortfall due to lockdown in South Africa. However, the sharp increase has come to a halt in line with scarce enquiries and limited transactions.

The price assessments for the second week of May are as follows:
CNF India (Lumps, 37%, South African origin): USD 6.75/dmtu
CNF India(Lumps, 44%, Gabonese Origin): USD 6.40/dmtu
CNF India(Lumps, 46%, Australian Origin): USD 6.85/dmtu

China:
Tianjin Port's inflow of Manganese ore was less than 200,000 MT this week, while its outflow exceeded 400,000 MT and its inventory decreased by 200,000 MT. Among them, the reduction in manganese ore supply from South Africa is most apparent, while that of Australia has improved.
The inventory of manganese ore in Qinzhou Port has temporarily steadied, because of the arrival of manganese ore, with inflow of about 180,000 MT, while the outflow is only about 150,000 MT.

Gabon:
Last week, Directorate-General for Economy and Tax Policy in Gabon announced that the production volume of Manganese ore in CY19 was 6,670,000 MT, significantly high (24%) as compared to last year. Two companies, such as Eramet Comilog (Comilog) and Nouvelle Gabon Mining (NGM) operate in Gabon. The production in CY19 increased from the latter half of the year. The export marked a record high in the fourth quarter at 2,100,000 MT.
The reasons for increasing production were as follows:
(1) Comilog maintained a high-levelled production;
(2) The production capacity in Biniomi mine (NGM) increased; and
(3) The operation in the mining site improved.

South Africa:
Although the prices from Gabon and Australia corrected the South African carbonate ore prices kept increasing in line with the shortage in availability. The impact of the epidemic in South Africa is still to be relaxed. It was originally planned that the blockade level will be reduced to 4 on May 1, and the mining of open-pit manganese mines is allowed to resume to full capacity. However, due to the diagnosis of New Coronary Pneumonia by a Transnet train driver, all transportation was stopped. Moreover, rail transportation from Northern Cape to Elizabeth is difficult to recover to 100% before the blockade is reduced to level 3.