Seaborne manganese ore markets drop amid weak portside prices

Seaborne low- and high-grade manganese ore prices ticked downward in the week to Friday August 13 under pressure from portside markets, where weaknesses have persisted over the past month, despite higher freight rates and a steady performance by the manganese alloy sector.

Fastmarkets calculated its weekly index for manganese ore, 44% Mn, cif Tianjin, at $5.32 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday, down by 5 cents per dmtu from $5.37 per dmtu previously.
Following previous market activity, fresh offers for September shipment were made over the week, although these were heard to have encountered some resistance from buyers.
"The offer came higher than the portside [price], like it did in the past couple of months," a manganese ore buyer said. "We have to lower our procurement amount after our resistance [to the offer] was ignored by sellers."
Fastmarkets' calculation of the weekly manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, decreased by 4 cents per dmtu to $4.55 per dmtu on Friday, from $4.59 per dmtu one week earlier.

The primary factor damping buyers' confidence was the persistently weak portside market. Due to a lasting...

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