Indian Manganese Ore Production Falls Over 12% in FY15

Indian manganese ore production for FY15 stood at 2.2 MnT against production of 2.5 MnT in FY14, according to provisional data released by the Ministry of Mines.

India is the 6th largest producer of manganese ore after China, South Africa, Australia, Gabon & Brazil. About one-fifth of the world’s manganese ore is found in India.

In FY14, India produced 2.58 MnT of manganese ore. However, in FY15 Indian production of manganese ore is recorded at 2.26 MnT, with the State of Madhya Pradesh contributing 35% of total production.

A major fall in manganese ore production was witnessed in Odisha, as mining operations were stopped by the state government for most of the mines owned by major producers such as Tata Steel, OM&M and Rungta Mines. Odisha’s production in FY15 almost halved from FY14.

Andhra Pradesh is another state that vastly reduced its production of manganese ore in FY15. This could be attributed to the sluggish manganese alloy market in FY15.

In FY15, Karnataka was one state where production increased by approximately 40% as compared to FY14. Whereas, all the the other states kept their manganese ore production more of less static.

Note: Data considered in this article is provisional data published by Indian Bureau of Mines

Source: Indian Bureau of Mines