China puts on the brakes

摘要

In 2004 Chinese exports of manganese ferroalloys increased by around 270,000 tonnes compared with 2003 to total 996,000 tonnes for the year as a whole. Silicomanganese material accounted for the majority of the increase, representing 70 percent of the total volume exported during 2004. In contrast to this rapid expansion in export volumes, during the first half of 2005 Chinese exports of manganese ferroalloys have increased by only 2 percent year-on-year. While Chinese exports of high carbon ferromanganese have increased by 41 percent in the year to date and those for refined manganese have almost doubled on the same basis, silicomanganese exports have fallen by 16 percent y-o-y. For the most part we expect that the decline in silicomanganese exports can be attributed to declining alloy prices in the Asian market. However, it is clear that the Chinese government is still attempting to limit the volume of ferroalloys exported from China. In August, there have been various reports that the government plans to abolish the red book system which provided manganese alloy producers with various trade breaks when they imported manganese ore to produce alloys for the export market. In addition to this, the government is expected to announce an increase in export duties for manganese alloys in October, with the new duties to come into effect in January 2006.