Karnataka Manganese Ore E-auction Fetches Poor Response

MSTC recently conducted an e-auction on behalf of SMIORE, Bellary, in which it received bids from only 7 different companies.

Manganese ore demand is very low in the market owing to weak buying interest from manganese alloy producers. Most merchant miners have cut manganese ore prices on the backdrop of falling manganese alloys prices in Indian and global market.

India’s state-owned trading company, MSTC, which had conducted the e-auction of manganese ore in Karnataka on 2 Sept’15, has fetched a mere total of 7 bids. Producers from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Karnataka were awarded the material.

Most of the material was awarded at floor value. This time about 4,960 MT of manganese ore was put on auction and all of which was successfully sold.

The manganese (Mn) content of the material offered ranges from 21-33 % and iron (Fe) content was in the range of 20 -32%, according to information on MSTC’s website. For Mn – 29%; Fe – 26 to 28%, H1 (winning bids) was awarded at the same price as the floor price of INR 3,000/MT (USD 1.56/dmtu), including royalty and FDT.

Silico manganese prices were almost stable in Durgapur, but prices have picked in Raipur. Silico manganese prices for week 36(31 Aug’15-06 Sep’15) were assessed at around INR 47,000/MT, Ex-Raipur and INR 46,000-46,500/MT, Ex-Durgapur.

Exchange Rate : USD 1 = 65.53
Source: SteelMint Research