European manganese still in weak demand

In the last few days, it snowed in many areas in China. Manganese producers claimed that they were affected by the snow, for the raw material cannot be transported to them, and their products cannot be transported to the port. However, with weak demand and plenty of stock in warehouses, the price of manganese in Europe remains unchanged.

A German trader claimed that market is unchanged compared to last week while demand remains weak and prices stabilize at USD3,500-3,600/t in warehouse Rotterdam. Moreover, the Chinese producers are being more realistic and the offers from China are in the same range.

The source views European market is not a free market but rather dominant by a few large consumers who are currently holding enough stock for January to March production. "We need to wait until end of February or earlier March to see more demand in the market," said the trader who thinks price will remain stable before Chinese New Year.

Another European trader revealed that he received offers from Chinese suppliers in the range of USD3,500-3,800/t CIF Rotterdam, but he did not accept the offers as there is very little demand in the European market and he could buy material for Rotterdam prompt release at USD3,500-3,650/t.

The third trader agreed to the above traders and he thinks there are at least several thousand tonnes of manganese in the European warehouse so it is hard to push the manganese metal price up. However, he holds that more consumers will be interested in manganese flake in the near future as the MC and LC FeMn price continue to rise higher. Therefore, he prefers to wait for a while to see what will happen in the manganese market.