According to China's Customs Statistics, exports of manganese metals during July 2012 were 8,788.9 tonnes, down by 36.2% MoM from 13,760.2 tonnes exported in June 2012.

The exports in the first seven months of 2012 were 83,015.3 tonnes, down by 20.96% YoY from 105,027.3 tonnes exported during the same period of 2011.

Unit price of the metal upon export in July 2012 was USD 2,900 per tonne CIF Japan, largely cut from USD 3,100 per tonne that had been unchanged since the beginning of this year. The lowered price level may be still OK for large scale producers most of which are integrated smelters but must be a big damage for medium small scale producers, mostly custom smelters, compelling them to stop operations because their production cost is said to be more than USD 3,000 per tonne. As of end August 2012, for reference, the price on export further declined to USD 2,550 to USD 2,600 per tonne CIF.

The sharp drop of exports of manganese metal in July 2012 was not only because of the drop in its price to a critical level but also because of the low price of nickel, a competing metal for manganese, that dipped below USD 8 per pound in July 2012 and continued the level throughout August 2012. The low nickel price level is forecasted to continue for some time, making consumers wait and see for fresh purchases of manganese metal.