Despite lingering oversupply and high levels of ore inventories at major Chinese ports, the low-grade seaborne manganese ore price in China registered a weekly rise of 12.1% on Friday December 6 after many Chinese buyers placed orders at higher-than-expected prices.
Fastmarkets'
manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin climbed by 40 cents week on week to $3.70 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on December 6.
The drastic increase of the low-grade ore index came after it plummeted by 46% to $3.30 per dumtu on November 29 from $6.11 per dmtu in early 2019, Fastmarkets' price archive shows.
Fastmarkets summarizes three main factors that have supported the evident rise in the seaborne low-grade manganese ore index in the past week.
Miners' reduced sales volume for January delivery
Several low-grade manganese ore miners were heard to have significantly reduced their sales volume for January delivery, leading to the relatively tight availability of seaborne ore material. This forced many Chinese buyers to place orders even though the agreed price is above their expectations, according to market participants.
Miners had limited pressure to sell for January delivery because they...