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China's silico-manganese futures near 7-mth high after South32 export suspension

Steelmaking ingredient silicomanganese futures in top consumer China increased more than 5%. on Wednesday, driven by worries of tightening supply of raw. material manganese ore following a longerthanexpected supply. interruption from significant supplier South32.

The most-active September futures contract on the Zhengzhou. Product Exchange rose 5.26% to 7,078 yuan ($ 976.83). per metric lot, its highest level given that Sept. 27, 2023.

Transaction volumes of the most-traded futures agreement. soared by 325% day on day to a record high of 1.09 million lots.

South32, one of the world's major providers of manganese. ore, said on Monday it would take about a year - until in between. January and March 2025 - to restart manganese ore exports from. Australia after a tropical cyclone last month harmed. facilities there. It said it was considering option. delivering options to reduce the effect.

In March, the varied miner withdrew its financial 2024. projection for Australian manganese output after the cyclone shut. operations at its Groote Eylandt Mining Co (GEMCO) unit in the. Gulf of Carpentaria.

Manganese is generally utilized to reinforce steel and. progressively in batteries.

If South32 can not find alternative shipping paths, there. will be a supply gap of around 2.6 million tons of high-grade. manganese ore in a year, representing 5% -6% of the global. supply, analysts at CITIC Futures wrote in a note.

China imported 31.35 million tons of manganese ore in 2023,. 16.7% of it from Australia, custom-mades information revealed, with experts. at GF Futures expecting this year's imports to fall by in between. 4% and 6%.

The price rally of the alloy made from manganese ore came. after lots of ore traders held back from providing freights in the. portside market in anticipation of greater prices ahead. A few. others tentatively lifted offering prices to evaluate the. psychologically acceptable level of buyers, market sources. stated.

We have received inquiries from South Korea and Japan where. ore consumers normally do not develop stock, stated a north. China-based trader who asked for privacy as he is not. authorised to talk to media.

They may either continue to purchase from China or acquire more. volumes from the other large supplier (Eramet); in either case,. supply of high-grade ore to China is falling.

(source: Reuters)