Surplus supplies and a fall in production costs have pushed Chinese selenium dioxide prices lower in the past three months.
The range for 99pc grade dioxide was assessed lower at 110-116 yuan/kg ($16.42-17.31/kg) today, the lowest level since December 2016, down by 11.4pc from Yn125-130/kg at the start of this year.
Suppliers have reduced their offer prices to attract sales, as demand from the downstream manganese industry has remained low with many producers operating from stocks.
Production costs have moved down as mainstream crude selenium prices have dropped by Yn10/kg to Yn130/kg from January, as suppliers are keen to attract sales because of competition against imports.
Crude selenium supplier Tongling Nonferrous Metal reduced its selling price to Yn127/kg this week.
Many dioxide suppliers have halted price quotations to wait for demand from the manganese industry to increase. Weaker demand resulting from restrictions on manganese output during the country's annual parliamentary meetings over 5-15 March may provide downside potential in dioxide prices in the short term.
Many manganese smelters are operating at low capacity rates because of "unsatisfying prices", although several producers including Hunan Dongfang Mining, Jingxi Xinyuan and Zunyi Tianci have resumed production in the past few weeks. These smelters are running at around half of capacity.
Spot manganese flake prices were assessed unchanged at Yn13,100-13.300/t ex-works today, down Yn13,400-13,600/t at the end of last month.
The range for 99.9pc grade powder was assessed stable at Yn170-185/kg with trading companies maintaining their offer prices after a rise in international prices.
