The recent rally in silico-manganese futures prices on China's Zhengzhou Commodities Exchange (ZCE) can largely be attributed to an impending shortage of the alloy in the country, market participants told Metal Bulletin.
Silico-manganese futures prices on the ZCE have undergone a steep rally recently, with the exchange's most-traded July silico-manganese contract reaching of 8,126 yuan ($1,251) per tonne on Friday June 22 - its highest price this year. A month ago, prices had been around the 7,400-yuan-per-tonne mark.ZCE silico-manganese futures prices first crossed the 8,000-yuan-per-tonne level early last week, with traders said to be taking up long positions in anticipation of an upcoming price rally.Prior to this, Chinese silico-manganese futures prices had begun to strengthen on the news that the implementation of strict environmental regulations across the country had affected production of the alloy in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region."We heard that in Guangxi there has been strict implementation of environmental regulations, which caused quite a few silico-manganese producers there to totally shut down, which will lead to a...