Indian Manganese Ore Demand Low with declining Manganese Alloy Production

The Indian steel market is slack and so is the Ferro Alloy market, resulting in the Indian Manganese Alloy producers to lose interest in procuring the raw material Manganese Ore.

The Manganese ore market seems to be quiet at the moment, and the price has no chance to make a rise, since dull steel market holds the manganese alloys purchasers reluctant to purchase the material, and some Manganese Alloy producers have also shut down production with Alloy prices keeping at a low level. Hence, demand for Manganese Ore is very low in India.

Domestic offers for Manganese Ore from Balaghat remain unchanged, although the demand is low, reported a miner source from the region. Current prices at Balaghat are: Manganese Ore 28-30% = INR 6,800/MT; 30-32% = INR 7,400/MT; 34-36% = INR 8,500/MT; 40-42% = INR 10,250 /MT; 42-44% = INR 11,000 /MT. Prices mentioned are inclusive of Royalty and excluding Taxes.

India’s state-owned trading company MSTC, which had conducted the e-auction of Manganese ore in Karnataka on 20th November, has fetched a total of 260 bids with producers from Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka being awarded most of the material, along with SAIL (Chhattisgarh). Increase in bids over floor value has been 11.4%, compared with 23.08% in the previous held e-auction on 28th October, 2014. About 18,848 MT of Manganese ore was put on auction. The Manganese (Mn) content of the material offered ranged from 21-33% and Iron (Fe) content was in the range of 24-32%, according to information on MSTC’s website. For, Mn – 31%; Fe – 24 to 26%, H1 (winning bids) was awarded in the range INR 6,468 – 6,586 /MT (USD 3.37 – 3.43 /dmtu), including royalty and FDT.

The market for South African Carbonated ore 36-37 % min continues to remain extremely slow as demand continues to remain absent from the market, with prices holding steady at USD 3.85 /dmtu CIF India. Prices are not expected to change for the rest of 2014 as demand remains low and there is still an oversupply to the market despite increasing numbers of mines unoperational.

Sources confirmed they had received lower offers for Australian origin 45-46% manganese ore. Offers were being talked about at USD 4.50/dmtu CIF India, 20 cents below the previous month for January loading.