The manganese market has been taken by surprise in the past 10 days by an unexpected rebound in low-grade ore prices, largely driven by rising silico-manganese futures prices in China.
Much of the increase, which started in the last days of November, was offset by the sharp price dip that immediately preceded it, resulting in a week-on-week price reduction on December 1. Metal Bulletin's 37% manganese ore index dropped 10 cents on December 1 to $4.43 per dry metric tonne unit, fob Port Elizabeth, equal to $5.12 per dry metric tonne unit, cif China. Still, seaborne prices have been rising since they were reported as low as $4.90 on a cif basis around November 24-27 and have been reported, by several sources, close to $6 per dmtu in recent days. Some manganese market participants fear the increase is nothing but a final hurrah for a good year, before the market crashes. "This is almost a dead cat bounce; the last little bit before prices fall through the floor," one market source told...