(Ecofin Agency) - Due to a global degradation of conditions in the steel market, various firms operating in the manganese industry have closed many of their production sites in the beginning of 2016. The mining firm COMILOG which is part of those has halted production at its Moanda mine in the south-eastern part of Gabon, while Chinese CICMHZ has stopped its activities at the Njole mine (in the centre).

This has led to drop in Gabon’s manganese and sinter production, representing a 22.6% decrease (700,000 t) compared to the same period in 2015, standing at 2.4 million t at the end of September 2016.

According to COMILOG, sales of manganese and its sinter should also slump by 15.3% to 2.5 million tons, thus generating CFA210 billion of revenues, which represent FCFA34 billion a 14% drop.

However, the sector’s operators said the ore’s price started increasing significantly at the beginning of the second half of 2016. The global slump in manganese’s volumes, lower offer and surge of Chinese demand during the period pushed up the ore’s price to $4.48 per dry metric ton unit (dmtu) in September 2016, from $2.81/dmtu in July the same year.