Buying from Chinese manganese smelters might slow down but strong market fundamentals will support manganese prices, participants said during a panel discussion at the Asian Ferro-Alloys Conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday March 21.
On the supply side, current inventories at the Chinese ports of Tianjin and Qinzhou are around 2.0-2.1 million tonnes, according to Metal Bulletin's assessment on March 21. This is a level which is considered to be on the low side.In March 2017, however, manganese inventory levels were around 3.0-3.1 million tonnes, which is considered typical."Current inventory levels are at a record low - very low compared with other years," Tshipi chief financial officer Carel Malan said."Manganese importing volumes into China are now not sufficient to support the volumes...