The ferro alloys market showed a mixed trend with manganese alloys and ferro silicon prices falling marginally with steel prices remaining under pressure. However, ferro chrome prices inched up owing to supply shortage and improved demand. The international market for ferro alloys remained soft as mixed sentiments prevailed, SteelMint noted.
Manganese ore
Global manganese ore import prices across grades were range-bound w-o-w at $4.05/dmtu for grade 37%, $4.85/dmtu for grade 44%, and $5.35/dmtu for grade 46%. Reduced production and low demand forced manganese ore prices to remain range-bound. Manganese ore prices are expected to remain weak but stable in the short term due to selling pressure on miners’ side.
IEX power prices
Spot electricity prices witnessed a major correction this week owing to ease in power demand. According to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), weekly average spot prices (11 -17 September) in the day-ahead market fell by 39% w-o-w to INR 4.479/unit as against INR 7.301/unit last week.
Silico manganese
Exported silico manganese prices were down by 2% w-o-w to $932/t for 60-14 grade and for 65-16 grade prices from Haldia and Vizag ports were down by 2% to $1,036/t, amid low inquiries continuing from importing countries.
Meanwhile, silico manganese prices dropped by 2% w-o-w to INR 74,040 /t ex-Durgapur, INR 73,800/t ex-Vizag and INR 74,520/t ex-Raipur. Prices of the material declined owing to the downtrend in the domestic steel market.
Ferro manganese
Exported ferro manganese prices were down by 4% at $952/t for HC 70% and HC 75% grade marginally down by 1% to $1,046/t. Meanwhile, domestic ferro manganese prices fell by 1% w-o-w to INR 76,840/t ex-Durgapur, while ex-Raipur prices dropped to INR 77,100/t. The lack of demand for special steel continues to result in the decline in ferro manganese prices.
Ferro chrome
Prices of ferro chrome in India went up w-o-w as domestic demand improved. According to SteelMint’s assessment on 15 September 2022, ferro chrome (HC 60%) prices were at around INR 93,250/t exw-Jaipur. Furthermore, material shortage also supported ferro chrome prices.
Ferro silicon
According to SteelMint’s assessment on 16 September, ferro silicon producers were offering at around INR 142,000-145,000/t exw from both Guwahati and Bhutan fell marginally due to weak demand. Most buyers predicted that prices would continue to fall. Furthermore, domestic offers remained higher than import prices. This forced sellers to conclude deals at lower prices.
Trade
SteelMint recorded bulk trades of around 16,500 t of ferro alloys this week, out of which manganese deals comprised around 9,500 t, while 4,000 t of ferro chrome and ferro silicon 3,000 t deals were recorded.
Tender & Auction
- Chinese steel major HBIS Group’s tender prices for HC ferro manganese stood at RMB 6,600/t ($948/t) for procuring volumes of 2,450 t for September delivery, remaining unchanged from August prices. The company also concluded its ferro silicon (72%) tender at RMB 8,200/t ($1,176/t), up RMB 200/t ($29/t) m-o-m from the August price.
- MOIL will conduct an auction for 5,875 t of different grades of high-carbon (HC) ferro manganese (2,000 t), ferro manganese slag (1000 t) and manganese ore of dioxide grade (2875 t) on 28 September from its Bhandara mines and Balaghat plant.
- Vedanta-FACOR held an auction for ferro chrome on 15 September. The bigger lot of 10-150mm fetched an H1 price of INR 93,400/t ex-Jajpur, while the smaller lot of 10-150mm was booked at INR 94,200/t ex-Jajpur.
- OMC has lowered the base price for grades above 40% Cr2O3 for its upcoming chrome ore auction on 19 September. The miner reduced the base price by 2% from its last auction held on 19 August.
- SAIL’s Chandrapur Ferro Alloys Plant (CFP) has scheduled an auction for 600 t of silico manganese (Mn 52-57%, 0-3mm, 3-10mm) on 20 September, 2022.
- SAIL-BSP booked 9,000 t of HC silico manganese at the landed price of INR 89,830/t, inclusive of all charges at the reverse auction on 15 September.
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