Abstract:
Manganese, being an essential mineral resource for the development of strategic emerging industries, holds significant strategic value. The trade of manganese ore and its related products constitutes a crucial component of global goods trade. With the expansion of the national economy, China’s consumption of manganese resources has witnessed a rapid growth. However, due to the insufficiency of domestic resources to meet domestic production demands, China has emerged as the world’s largest importer of manganese resources. To conduct an in-depth study on the international trade patterns and characteristics of products at various stages of the manganese industry chain and to understand the roles and status of China and other major trading countries within the trade network of the manganese industry chain, based on complex network theory, this paper selects trade data from 2010 to 2023 to construct the global manganese industry chain trade network and analyzes its trade characteristics and evolution trends from both the overall and individual network perspectives. The research findings indicate that: ① the overall trade scale of the manganese industry chain has expanded, with the international trade of manganese ore, silicon manganese alloy, and manganese slag all being in an oligopolistic market; ② the extensiveness and complexity of international trade in the manganese industry chain have weakened, trade connectivity still requires improvement, and trade dependence remains at a relatively low level; ③ the trade control capabilities of major manganese ore importing countries are generally higher than those of exporting countries, and China and India play notable “bridge” roles in global manganese ore trade; ④ China holds a considerable degree of regulation and influence over the world’s manganese slag trade network. Although the scale of the manganese industry chain trade network is expanding, the connections among countries remain relatively loose, and trade efficiency awaits enhancement.