FOCUS: European manganese alloy price recovery limited by bearish end markets, participants say

The recovery in manganese alloys prices in Europe in the past week or two may have limited space to move higher in the near term due to depressed end-user steel demand in the automotive and construction sectors, according to trade sources and available industry data.

Until the past week or two, manganese alloys prices in Europe had been trending downward since late April due to the effects that national lockdowns to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have had on end-user demand and consequently prompted steep cuts in output from heavy industry. Car production and the construction sectors represent the two main areas of consumption for ferro-manganese and silico-manganese production, respectively.
Silico-manganese is used to make long steel for the construction sector, such as rebar and wire mesh, and the alloy looks set to be under downward price pressure in the near term, while measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus affects heavy industry and the commercial and housing sectors in the coming months. Moreover, winter is usually a quiet time for construction projects, with most output happening in the warmer months when daylight hours are longer.

Yet over the past week,...

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