Indian silicomanganese prices went down marginally in the domestic market as domestic demand has reduced. There is a huge price deviation in the Indian market and the offers are from INR 84,000/t to INR 88,000/t depending on the region.
Currently, Raipur prices are at around INR 86,500-87,000/t ex-works and Durgapur prices are at INR 87,500-88,000/t. However, there are producers who are offering at lower levels as well in the domestic market while the export prices remain stable with tepid demand.
Key highlights:
Oxygen shortage taking a toll on the manganese alloys demand
As the country suffocates for oxygen, Govt. decided to redirect industrial oxygen for medical purposes. However, this had an anticipated effect on the smaller steel producers and most of the smaller induction furnaces have shut down their operations due to oxygen shortage. Thus, the demand from the domestic producers remained slow as the availability of oxygen remains scarce. Producers believe that there might be an uptick in the prices after the oxygen shortage is mitigated and the demand comes back to normal.
Imported manganese ore prices fell amidst low buying interest
Imported manganese ore prices in the international market were down amidst tepid buying interest from China. Meanwhile, most of the Chinese buyers have already procured enough quantity for the month and thus, the buying tide is low and further improvement can only be judged after the Chinese holidays are over. Mainly the downtrend was noted in the South African carbonate ores as the prices came down by 5cents/dmtu to $4.45/dmtu CNF India.
Durgapur producers have healthy demand in their hands
Durgapur producers have now increased their offers as many producers remain sold out and have taken orders for the next month. Meanwhile, producers who are only catering to the spot market are also having healthy orders and therefore now are offering higher.
Meanwhile, in Raipur, the silicomanganese producers are not willing to go lower than the SAIL tender prices. However, the market ambiguity intensifies as many parts of the country witness successive lockdowns and shutdown of steel plants.
MOIL reduced manganese ore prices by 5%
MOIL slashed the prices of manganese ore prices by 5% in line with the international prices, which went down by around 7% from the start of the month. Although, the prices of silicomanganese are at record high levels, the domestic miner cannot take an advantage of it as they remain wary of increased imports. However, this increases the profit margin for the silicomanganese producers.
Leave a Reply