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Ferro manganese

An iron-manganese alloy, typically 74–95% manganese, used to deoxidize, desulfurize and alloy steel. China and India together make about two-thirds of the world's ferromanganese, and high-carbon grades account for most demand.

Supply risk

Reviewed 3 Oct 2026 · Methodology

Elevated

EU safeguard quotas on ferromanganese imports take effect

Policy (elevated) decides the level: since 18 November 2025 the EU has capped ferromanganese imports with country-specific tariff-rate quotas, including from Norway, a leading supplier. Supply concentration (moderate) and Gabon's planned 2029 ore export ban add to it, and the level matches the parent manganese rating.

Since 18 Nov 2025 · Sources: EUR-Lex, U.S. Geological Survey

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Risk drivers

Supply concentrationModerate
World ferromanganese output, excluding the US, was 5.24 million t in 2023. China made an estimated 2.16 million t (about 41%) and India 1.27 million t (about 24%), followed by Japan, Norway and Malaysia. Manganese ore comes mainly from South Africa and Gabon.Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey
Export controlsModerate
No export restriction on ferromanganese itself was identified. Upstream, Gabon, the second-largest manganese ore producer, plans to ban unrefined manganese exports from 1 Jan 2029 and in Feb 2026 called the date non-negotiable.Sources: Reuters via Kitco, Engineering News
Policy & tariffsElevated
An EU definitive safeguard on ferromanganese and other ferroalloys applies from 18 Nov 2025 to 17 Nov 2028, with country-specific quarterly tariff-rate quotas and a variable duty on out-of-quota imports below a set threshold. It covers Norway and Iceland; Ukraine is excluded. US tariffs on ferromanganese were 1.4–2.3% at end-2025.Sources: EUR-Lex, U.S. Geological Survey
Operational disruptionModerate
GFG's Liberty Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania (290,000 t/yr of ferromanganese and silicomanganese) was placed on care and maintenance in May 2025, citing ore supply disruptions; no restart had been identified. No other major outage was found.Source: Argus Media
Demand shockLow
Ferromanganese is used almost entirely in steelmaking, and worldsteel estimated global finished steel consumption was unchanged in 2025. Manganese ferroalloys are largely interchangeable.Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Status history2 entries

  1. Elevatedcurrent

    EU safeguard quotas on ferromanganese imports take effect

    Policy (elevated) decides the level: since 18 November 2025 the EU has capped ferromanganese imports with country-specific tariff-rate quotas, including from Norway, a leading supplier. Supply concentration (moderate) and Gabon's planned 2029 ore export ban add to it, and the level matches the parent manganese rating.

    Sources: EUR-Lex, U.S. Geological Survey

  2. Moderate

    Baseline

    China and India made about two-thirds of world ferromanganese, but no single country held more than half, and no export controls or major trade measures applied to the alloy. Supply concentration (moderate) set the level.

    Source: U.S. Geological Survey

A supply-availability rating, not a price forecast or investment view. Export-control information is factual and is not legal advice.

Trade flows

2024 · HS 720211, 720219

Ferro-manganese (high and low carbon)

Recorded world imports: 1.5 Mt · $1.85B

Top exporters

  1. India31%459,399 t · $528M
  2. Norway24%356,900 t · $479M
  3. Malaysia13%200,927 t · $233M
  4. South Africa7%108,478 t · $147M
  5. Australia5%69,176 t · $74.7M
  6. Netherlands4%66,011 t · $86.9M
  7. France4%58,811 t · $65.6M
  8. Spain2%28,645 t · $39M
  9. South Korea2%25,345 t · $34.7M
  10. Vietnam2%24,411 t · $32.7M

Top importers

  1. United States20%303,895 t · $394M
  2. Germany10%146,369 t · $162M
  3. South Korea6%91,063 t · $97.1M
  4. Türkiye6%87,988 t · $112M
  5. Italy5%82,289 t · $101M
  6. Poland5%80,469 t · $88.2M
  7. Netherlands5%80,218 t · $102M
  8. Canada5%69,420 t · $87.9M
  9. Taiwan (Other Asia, nes)4%60,698 t · $72.3M
  10. Japan3%49,666 t · $57.9M

Largest routes

  1. Malaysia→United States96,814 t · $112M
  2. India→South Korea77,020 t · $80.1M
  3. Norway→Poland66,148 t · $70M
  4. Norway→United States61,449 t · $98.4M
  5. India→Italy56,790 t · $63.8M

Source: UN Comtrade, imports reported by 106 countries for 2024. Exporters are ranked by what importing countries recorded (mirror data), so countries that do not report their own exports are still counted. Values are in US dollars including freight and insurance. Weights are product weight. Recent years can be incomplete, and unrecorded trade is not included.

Overview

Ferromanganese (FeMn) is an of iron and manganese. Its manganese content typically ranges from 74% to 95%.1 It is one of the bulk , produced in large tonnages mainly for the steel industry.2

The alloy itself is not listed as critical, but manganese is: it is essential to iron and steelmaking, and reports no satisfactory for it in its major applications.31

How it is made

ferromanganese is produced by carbothermic reduction of lumpy or manganese in three-phase submerged . The charge also includes coke or low-volatile coal as reductant, iron ore, and fluxes such as limestone and dolomite. Fine ores are sintered first. leaves a "rich " containing about 30% manganese, which is used to make silicomanganese.2 China also makes part of its output in blast furnaces.3

grades are made in two ways: by blowing oxygen into molten high-carbon ferromanganese to burn off carbon (the main route in the EU), or by silicothermic reduction of ore or rich slag, using silicomanganese as the reductant.2

World ferromanganese production, excluding the United States, was 5.24 million t in 2023. China produced an estimated 2.16 million t, and India was second with 1.27 million t, up 20% on 2022.3

Ferromanganese production by country2023 (est.) · world 5,240,000 t
  • China41%
  • India24%
  • Japan8%
  • Norway6%
  • Malaysia5%
  • Korea, Republic of4%
  • Russia3%
  • Other countries8%

Gross weight. World total as rounded by USGS; it excludes US production, which is withheld. China's figure is a USGS estimate (blast-furnace and electric-furnace output combined). Source: 2023 Minerals Yearbook: Manganese (advance release)

Ore supply is concentrated elsewhere. On a manganese-content basis, South Africa, Gabon, Ghana and Australia were the leading ore producers in 2025, and South Africa holds an estimated 70% of world manganese .1 In Ukraine, the Nikopol ferroalloy plant temporarily suspended operations in November 2023 after artillery damage.3

What it is used for

Manganese prevents excessive oxidation during refining, deoxidizes steel, and combines with sulfur to form high-melting sulfides that prevent cracking. Ferromanganese and other alloys are added either in the furnace or in the ladle after tapping.4 The International Manganese Institute puts steelmaking at about 97% of manganese consumption; USGS gives a more conservative "more than 90%".43

In 2023, world apparent consumption of manganese ferroalloys was estimated at 22.8 million t, of which high-carbon ferromanganese accounted for 3.90 million t and refined (medium- and low-carbon) ferromanganese for 1.50 million t; the rest was silicomanganese.3

Grades and forms

Ferromanganese is classified by maximum carbon content. Lower-carbon grades need either a converter refining step or a separate silicothermic process.2

High-carbon ferromanganese (HC FeMn)

Max. 7.5% C

The main grade, made by carbothermic smelting of manganese ore in submerged arc furnaces (and in some countries in blast furnaces).

Medium-carbon ferromanganese (MC FeMn)

Max. 2.5% C

Refined grade made by oxygen decarburization of HC FeMn or by silicothermic reduction of manganese ore.

Low-carbon ferromanganese (LC FeMn)

Max. 0.75% C

Refined grade traditionally made by silicothermic reduction of manganese-rich slag.

Trade and policy

The United States has not produced manganese ore with 20% or more manganese since 1970, and its for manganese is 100%. In 2021–24, its ferromanganese imports came from Malaysia (26%), Australia (16%), Norway (16%) and South Africa (14%). Normal-trade-relations on ferromanganese ranged from 1.4% to 2.3% ad valorem at the end of 2025. For fiscal year 2025, potential disposals from the included 18,000 t of high-carbon ferromanganese.1

In the EU, a definitive on imports of ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, silicomanganese and ferrosilicomagnesium took effect on 18 November 2025 and runs until 17 November 2028. It sets country-specific quarterly tariff-rate ; imports outside the quota pay a variable duty when their price is below a set threshold. It applies to Norway and Iceland, which supplied 47.4% of EU imports of the products concerned in 2024, while imports from Ukraine are excluded. The Commission must review the measure within one year of its entry into force.5

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Manganese is only incidentally, as a constituent of ferrous and nonferrous ; scrap recovery specifically for manganese is negligible. Some manganese is recovered with iron from steel slag.1 The various manganese ferroalloys are largely interchangeable with each other, but manganese itself has no satisfactory substitute in its major applications.31

Sources

  1. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Manganese. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Non-Ferrous Metals Industries. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. 2023 Minerals Yearbook: Manganese (advance release). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Manganese in steel. International Manganese Institute, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2

  5. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2351 imposing a definitive safeguard measure on imports of certain ferro-alloying elements. EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

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