Tan Rong: Manganese market demand hard to rebound in 2013

Asian Metal: Good day, Ms Tan. Thank you for granting this interview. Could you please make a brief introduction of your company?

Tan: CITIC Dameng operates the biggest manganese mine in China, which is about 22% of the total reserves of Chinese manganese resource, and it also owns overseas manganese resource base with manganese ore in countries like Gabon. CITIC Dameng mainly engages in manganese mine exploitation and manganese ore deep-processing. Furthermore, we own electrolytic manganese metal plants in leading production areas like Daxin, Tiandeng and Jingxi in Guangxi, with a total production capacity of 200,000tpy.

Asian Metal: What are the leverages of CITIC Dameng compared with other large producers?

Tan: Firstly, we control the biggest manganese mine in China, which means about 121 million tons of manganese ore reserves. Secondly, we get accorded with tremendous support from the government as one of the “top-10 enterprises” of Guangxi.

Asian Metal: How much do you expect the total output of Chinese electronic manganese to be in 2013? Will demand see a rebound?

Tan: I think the actual output of Chinese electronic manganese will keep stable at 1,100,000t this year, and it is hard for domestic demand to rebound in view of poor market performance of downstream industries. Therefore, many manganese producers have delayed their plans of expanding the production. Meanwhile, overseas end-users will continue to purchase about 200,000t of the materials in 2013.

Asian Metal: How do you evaluate better demand of manganese briquette in the domestic market?

Tan: Chinese manganese briquettes have made substantial progress in both quantity and operability in recent years, which leads a better demand of the material in the domestic market alone with price advantages over manganese lump.

Asian Metal: Do you think export volume of manganese metals will witness increases in 2013?

Tan: Firstly, I think the total export volume of manganese metals will continue to show downward trend this year. At a glance from the precious year on, lower prices of manganese ore have allowed low-carbon ferromanganese and silicomanganese comparative advantages over manganese metals, and the two products are likely to take more market shares from manganese metals in overseas markets.

Meanwhile, manganese briquettes have lost the price advantages due to cancelation of Chinese manganese export duty, and many leading overseas manganese end users like POSCO reduce order quantity of the material sharply. Therefore, export volume of manganese briquettes slid quickly in the first quarter of this year while that of manganese flake saw considerable increases.

As for manganese lump, its export volume has kept very stable in recent years, and cancelation of Chinese manganese export duty only makes it appear formally on China Customs data.

Asian Metal: Will CITIC Dameng expand export of manganese metals this year?

Tan: We will continue to pay more attention to domestic market and keep stable export volume of manganese metals in 2013. Of course, we will also adjust the proportion of export according to the coming market performance.

Asian Metal: Will electricity price of Guangxi be lowered within the second quarter?

Tan: Electricity price in most leading production areas of Guangxi is RMB0.65-0.70/KWH currently, which is higher than other provinces. There is no office announcement yet said that it will be lowered within this year, and I do not think it will go down, either.

Asian Metal: What’s your view on the coming market?

Tan: As we know, market price of manganese metals has been decreasing from April on, and the market sees limited transactions due to weak demand of downstream industries, as well as appreciation of the RMB. I think suppliers will continue to compete on prices in the near future. And measures like tax returns adopted by the government will also have great impact on future market trend along with the overall economic conditions.

Asian Metal: We appreciate your support giving us your valuable time and we wish a bright future for CITIC Dameng.