Manganese

A steel hardening additive and rising battery input, shipped mostly as South African ore.

Overview

Tens of millions of tonnes of ore ship yearly, South Africa dominant in volume, with Australia and Gabon supplying high grades, and China processing and consuming the largest share. Nearly all steel takes some manganese, with no substitute at scale, so demand tracks world steel output. Alloys smelt in China, India, and Norway on cheap power. Battery grade manganese sulfate is a new demand leg for high manganese cathodes, and the purity specs few plants can meet create niches. Pricing is index based on ore grade, opaque rather than exchange traded, and the 2023 Gabon coup and South African rail outages showed how quickly flows wobble.