Manganese highlights

摘要

The European spot silico-manganese price has slumped as weakness in the construction sector has acted as a drag that seems set to persist in July. There has been a virtual lack of demand in southern Europe, where most manganese alloys are consumed in steel products for the construction sector. The move is a dramatic change since April this year when European smelters were oversold and were even looking to buy material to fulfil their long-term delivery contracts. Now, most quarterly deals for delivery in southern Europe agreed last month were not signed off and those preliminary settlements have been replaced with spot market deals, and this appears to be persisting through the next quarter. We believe another 50 euros/ tonne may come off prices in the next few weeks. The European ferro-manganese market, meanwhile, has eased amid general weakness in all ferro-alloys prices, with the prospect of more losses in the short term. The market, however, should be more supported compared with European silico-manganese, as the car market, which is mostly in northern Europe, is in stronger shape than the construction industry.