South Africa lockdown extension boosts sentiment for Chinese portside manganese ore prices

Sentiment in Chinese domestic portside manganese ore prices for both low and high grades has strengthened following news that the lockdown in South Africa will be extended by another 14 days.

Late on Thursday April 9, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced he will extend the nationwide lockdown in place since March 26 to the end of April as part of efforts to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The extended shutdown of operations in the African country has heightened fears of a supply shortage in manganese ore, a driver in the recent surge in portside manganese ore prices since late March.
But this bullish sentiment could not completely offset the drops in portside ore prices reported over most of last week due to waning buying interest.

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