MANGANESE 101:
Pt 1     Pt 2     Pt 3

(Secular Bull article series)

Headlines:

Manganese: An Unsung Hero
July 28 2009
All steels contain it. And the U.S. is 100% reliant on imports of it... (Hard Assets Investor)

DJ Manganese Alloy Prices Seen Elevated
April 15 2008
strong growth rate in carbon steel production driven by industrializing economies in a constrained ore market... (Comtex)

China May Consume 10% More Manganese
March 28 2008
Demand for the alloys used to strengthen steel will rise from last year's 5.38 million metric tons... (Bloomberg)

Manganese a quiet achiever
March 17 2008
manganese boom is still not a headline grabber; won't be quiet for much longer... (BusinessDay)

This Week in Steel:

China's April crude steel production up 10%  
(MetalsPlace)
ArcelorMittal 1Q profit rises on steel demand  
(MetalsPlace)
Ferritic stainless steel to move even higher  
(MetalsPlace)
Record hike for US steel prices  
(MetalsPlace)

Tight supply is the reason
Tom Stundza - purchasing.com, Feb.20

With global supply tight, BHP Billiton has been able to boost Manganese ore prices prices by 310% to Japanese buyers for fiscal 2008, starting April 1. Nippon Steel and Japanese leading ferroalloy maker, Nippon Denko, agreed to increase the manganese ore purchase price by 4.1 times. This is the first price increases in three years for ore and will push up the ferroalloy price, according to Merrill Lynch analysts.