Platts reported that Chinese manganese alloy producer Guizhou Longli Longteng Ferroalloys has reduced its silicomanganese output by 1,000 to 2,000 million tones per month due to tightness in the manganese ore supply.

A Guizhou Longli Longteng official said that they had been largely reducing silicomanganese exports to only 1,000 to 2,000 million tones per month since January 2007 due to the supply shortage of manganese ore. The company mostly imports the material from overseas but the raw material has been tight since this year.

Longli Longteng runs a silicomanganese production facility with a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 million tones per month and a 1,000 to 2,000 million tones per month medium carbon ferromanganese line and about 80% of company's output are for exports to Japan and Europe. The company has been the biggest spot silicomanganese supplier to the Japanese.