Manganese prices increasing

Manganese prices starting to recover.

	Column 1
0	South32's Price of Mn Ore for China as May Shipment Goes up Drastically
1	= Price of lump ore is at US$4 range and makes recovery to level of last February shipment =
2	South 32, a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Limited (BHPB) has recently submitted its offer price of manganese ore as May 2016 shipment meant for China to respective customers individually. According to whom it may concern, the price per 1% of Mn for Mn 46% Lump ore (GEMCO grade) is US$4.10 - US$4.20, drastically up by US$1.30 - US$1.40 from April shipment (US$2.80).On the one hand, the price of Metallurgical Fine ore (Mn 48%) is US$3.99 - US$4.00, up by US$1.14 - US$1.15 from April shipment (US$2.85). This time's price made a recovery to the same level as shipment in February 2015.As to South African low-grade ore (Mn 38% - 40%), no price meant for China seems to have been offered because the shipment is mainly meant for Europe.Some of the market participants anticipated the price for May shipment to be close to US$5, but the price increase was not so much as expected because the retail price in China is still in the US$5 range and the port stock of imported manganese ore is 1.31 million tons (not including the one at bonded warehouses).The port stock of imported manganese ore hit the bottom of about 1.15 million tons in the middle of March and now shows an increasing trend. Besides, several large-lot discharges are scheduled to take place after the middle of April, and the increasing trend is anticipated to continue from now onward as well. In light of the port stock volume and the price, some of market participants analyze the price of imported manganese ore won't come down until the stock reaches 2.5 million tons in size.