South Africa: Manganese ore exports drop 6% m-o-m in April on lower buying

South Africa's manganese ore exports decreased by 6% m-o-m to 1.86 mnt in April 2022 as against 1.98 mnt seen in March 2022. This decrease was the result of lower buying from major importing countries due to higher prices. The key importers in the month were China, India, South Korea and Japan.

Meanwhile, in January-April 2022, cumulative manganese ore exports increased by 5% y-o-y to 7.5 mnt.

• China's imports fall by 21% m-o-m
  South Africa exported 1.06 mnt of manganese ore to China in April, a decrease of 21% as against 1.33 mnt in March. The latter's imports decreased due to the implementation of 'dynamic zero' in response to rising Covid-19 cases and pollution reduction measures in its provinces.
  
  
• Imports from South Korea, India down m-o-m
  South Africa's manganese ore exports to South Korea fell by 23% to 0.06 mnt in April as against 0.07 mnt in March.
  Exports to India were down by 6% to 0.32 mnt in April from 0.34 mnt a month ago. As per SteelMint assessment, imported prices of South African manganese ore into India decreased by 5% m-o-m in April due to low buying and bearish manganese alloys market.