Japanese Manganese Demand Not Recovers

According to the Japanese sources, the demand for manganese flake in Japan remains weak, and most consumers are not eager to replenish stocks with the large quantity of stocks on hand.

A Japanese source from a steel mill with a regular trading volume of about 500tpm, revealed that he just bought about 400t manganese flake from China at around USD2,800/t FOB China late last month, and has no intention of purchasing any more at the moment.“Some offers from China received are about USD2,830/t FOB China this week, up by about USD30/t against that of last week,” said the source.

The source intends to reduce production of steel in the second half of the year, and moreover, most end-users in Japan still hold stocks of steel on hand, so the demand for manganese has not recovered yet.

Another manganese trader in Japan with a trading volume of about 300tpm disclosed that the manganese flake trading volume is reducing, but Chinese suppliers raised the offer to about USD2,850/t FOB China following the domestic manganese flake price rise.“The Japanese steel market does not go active, so end-users are unwilling to store stocks too much,” said the source.

According to the custom statistics, China exported 4,193 tons of manganese flake to Japan in June, 2010, which decreases by about 30% against 5,955 tons in May.

七転び八起き [nanakorobi yaoki]
Bouncing back up as often as Fortune knocks one down.
Lit: Stumbling seven times but recovering eight.