Hebei Steel, China's second-largest steel mill, has finalized its purchase price for June-delivery silico-manganese at 7,400 yuan ($1,042) per tonne, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 21.
The latest price is 100 yuan per tonne, or 1.3%, lower than the purchase price of
7,500 yuan per tonne for May-delivery cargoes.
The price from Hebei Steel, which is for cargoes delivered to warehouse, includes value-added tax and should be paid on acceptance, according to market sources.
Hebei Steel brought forward its procurement for June-delivery silico-manganese by announcing on Tuesday May 19 that it would purchase 27,000 tonnes of silico-manganese for June delivery, a volume that marks an increase of 970 tonnes from the 26,030 tonnes purchased for May delivery.
The monthly tender price for silico-manganese from Hebei Steel, which is usually announced in the last week of each month, is widely taken by the country's market participants as an indicator of market direction, Fastmarkets understands.
Some market sources pointed to a lack of sufficient alloy inventories at Hebei's...