2007-1-17 Chinese companies squeezed by electrolytic manganese export tariff

Unforged manganese, manganese scraps and powder, some other kinds of manganese and products made of manganese were put in Promulgating Catalog of Commodities under Administration of Export License, according to the latest announcement by the Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs.

This is another policy adopted by the government to regulate the industry of electrolytic manganese, following the 15 per cent export tariff on unforged manganese that began on Nov. 1, 2006. At the present, price of electrolytic manganese are surging, with a lot of contract-breaching on the market. And at the same time manganese companies are finding ways to export electrolytic manganese without paying the tariff.

The export tariff levied since Jan. 1, 2006 heats the market of electrolytic manganese a lot. At the beginning, the buyers and sellers could not reach agreements on the prices of electrolytic manganese and this made lots of signed contract with the goods unshipped called off. But with the new year approaching, many buyers were starting to accept the prices which are raised from 1260-US$1280 per ton (FOB) to 1500-US$1550 per ton (FOB).

Since Dec. 2006, the domestic prices of electrolytic manganese are surging again, because the supply of it are insufficient, especially the supply from Huaheng of Hunan and Xiushang of Chongqing, which are the top two source of manganese. Domestic sellers lift their prices to 1750-1800 US dollars pre ton (FOB) but the buyers abroad did not accepted them. The market depressed again. An analyst from Umetal.net notes that Chinese sellers may raise their prices again with the administration rules specified and the battle on prices will start again.

According to the statistics of China customs, the production and exports of unforged manganese are affected seriously since Nov. last year. Many enterprises stopped exporting and the volume of manganese exports and the number of export enterprises decreased a lot. Unforged manganese exports in November is 2.4 tons and US$31.68 million, down by 2.7 per cent and 12.9 pe