Japan Manganese Ferroalloy Price Jumps in July-September

Japanese steel makers’ purchase price of manganese ferroalloy increase widely for July-September shipment. Domestic ferroalloy makers seek wide hike under higher international market and lower yen rate to increase the silicomanganese price by 80,000 yen to 200,000-215,000 yen per tonne compared with April-June. The international price increases when manganese ore spot price surges with tight supply due to higher import by China and Chinese ferroalloy operation cost increases due to environmental friendly policy in the country. Japanese ferroalloy makers try to increase the high carbon ferromanganese price by 45,000-50,000 yen to 175,000-190,000 yen per tonne for major users for July-September from April-June. They increase the price widely to reflect higher international price at quarterly price negotiation. Chinese export price of silicomanganese reached FOB US$ 1,500 per tonne in June compared with around US$ 900 in early April, according to Japanese sources. The price dropped to US$ 1,200 level recently. However, silicomanganese price is still US$ 1,500 per tonne level in Europe and US market has transaction at as high as US$ 2,600. Tight supply of manganese ore lifted the alloy prices. China increases the import to meet growing demand when the supply growth is limited. Chinese ferroalloy makers pay as high as US$ 7 per a percent of manganese unit for July-September compared with US$ 2.7 for Japanese makers’ annual contract price for fiscal 2007, which decreased by 10% from previous year and Japanese concluded the negotiation in January.