Manganese prices rebound on supply worries

‍‍China’s manganese market saw a surprising rebound for the week ended Tuesday 19th April as traders stockpiled.

According to most of traders’ manganese offer in the domestic market at 11,400-11,500CNY/MT ex-work, up 200CNY/MT from a week ago.

The market was rattled on Wednesday 18th April when news broke that the CEO of China Huarong Asset Management was under investigation. China Huarong is the major financer of the country’s biggest manganese producer Tianyuan Manganese. Sellers then withheld from selling and increased their offers. Some even suspended sales despite stocking demand.

Separately, Baosteel concluded another manganese flake buy tender this week, suggesting bullish sentiment emerged.

Some market players expect manganese to rise only slightly next week with more trading activity as supply is sufficient. Offers at high levels are likely to come back down as operating rate at manganese plants remain high.

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