Manganese flake giant TMI denies production halt but prices hit record highs

Tianyuan Manganese Industry Group (TMI), said to be the world's largest producer of manganese flake, has not halted production, it told Fastmarkets, dispelling a recent rumor that has helped to drive manganese prices to new heights worldwide.

Distorted reports of an explosion some time in the week ended Friday August 13 near TMI's operations in Zhongwei, in China's Ningxia province, were heard amid a pre-existing global shortage of the steel-hardening material, and contributed to record flake prices that week.
But production was not affected in the assessment week ended August 20, TMI later told Fastmarkets, when flake prices were still rising but more slowly.
Sources in the West said that the rumored halt had worsened buyers' already-strong concerns about supply out of China, the source of 95% of the world's manganese flake, which is also known as electrolytic manganese metal.
Flake prices reached their then-highest-ever levels in Fastmarkets' assessments in the week to August 13 and continued to trend upward in the week ended August 20.

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