The Chinese domestic portside manganese ore market has fallen into stasis this week with many ore traders refraining from making offers following the news that all miners in South Africa were required to shut down operations from Thursday March 26.
The shutdown order was part of the country's efforts to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.
South Africa will enter a 21-day nationwide lockdown from midnight on March 26, and the country's metals and mining operations
were ordered to be placed on care and maintenance.
After the order was issued, many ore traders held back from making offers despite growing buying interest from alloy smelters, because the traders expected further price rises, according to market participants.
"It's hard to discern any prices in the market, because there are very few, especially after some miners declared
force majeure on manganese shipments," a Chinese ore trader said.
Two South African manganese ore miners, United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) and Assmang, were reported to have sent force majeure notices to their customers on March...