Manganese is a silvery-white, very brittle, metallic element used primarily in making alloys. Its atomic symbol is Mn and its atomic number is 25. Manganese was first distinguished as an element and isolated in 1774 by Johan Gottlieb Gahn. Manganese dissolves in acid and corrodes in moist air.

Manganese is distributed over the world in the form of ores such as rhodochrosite, franklinite, psilomelane, and manganite. Pyrolusite is the principal ore of manganese. Pure manganese is produced by igniting pyrolusite with aluminum powder or by electrolyzing manganese sulfate.

Manganese is used primarily in the steel industry for creating alloys, the most important ones being ferromanganese and spiegeleisen. In steel, manganese improves forging and rolling qualities, strength, toughness, stiffness, wear resistance, and hardness. Manganese is also used in plant fertilizers, animal feed, pigments, and dry cell batteries.

Prices – The average price of ferromanganese (high carbon, FOB plant) in 2001 fell –9.1% to .44 per gross ton from .40 in 2000. The 2001 price of .44 was well below the 10-year average price of .73.

Supply – World production of manganese ore in 2001 was unchanged from 2000 at 19.1 million metric tons. That was only moderately above the record low of 17.8 million metric tons for the data series, which goes back to 1970. The world’s largest producers of manganese ore are South Africa with 17.1% of world production in 2001, Ukraine with 14.1%, China with 13.1%, Brazil with 11.5%, and Australia with 10.8%. China’s production has dropped sharply in the last several years from 6.0 million metric tons in 1997 to 2.500 million in 2001.

Demand – US consumption of manganese ore in 2001 fell –12.6% to 425,000 metric tons from 486,000 metric tons in 2000. US consumption of ferromanganese in 2001 fell –11.3% to 266,000 metric tons from 300,000 metric tons in 2000.

Trade – The US relies on imports for 100% of its manganese consumption. It has been that way since 1985 when the percentage rose to 100% from 97-99% during the 1970s when the US still produced some manganese. US imports of manganese ore for consumption in 2001 fell –19.9% to 358,000 metric tons from 447,000 metric tons in 2000. US imports of ferromanganese for consumption in 2001 fell -19.6% to 251,000 metric tons from 312,000 metric tons in 2000. US imports of silico-manganese in 2001 fell –17.8% to 310,000 metric tons from 377,000 in 2000. The primary sources of US imports of manganese ore are Gabon with 65.4% of US imports in 2002, followed by South Africa with 19.5%, Australia (8.6%), and Brazil (6.0%).