Weekly round-up: Ferro alloys market downtrend persists on weak steel sentiments

A weak domestic steel market and soft global demand negatively affected the domestic ferro alloys market this week, SteelMint notes.

Manganese ore
Global manganese ore import prices fell slightly last week to $5.25/dmtu for grade 37%, $7.5/dmtu for grade 44%, and $8.0/dmtu for grade 46%.
In addition, major manganese ore miners declared their offers for July 2022 shipments. Australian block (Mn45%) offers were reduced by $0.4/t dmtu to $7.6/t dmtu. South African block (Mn37%) offers increased by $0.2/dmtu to $5.2/dmtu due to supply disruptions.

IEX power prices
According to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) weekly average spot prices (4-11 June), in the day-ahead-market prices rose by 16% w-o-w to INR 7.03/unit this week as against INR 6.41/unit last week led by a late surge in power demand.

The Power Ministry stated that all-India power demand that was met rose to a new high of 211.856 gigawatts (GW) on 10 June after it had peaked to 210.793 GW a day before.

Silico manganese
Exported silico manganese prices continued to decrease by 6% on a weekly basis to $1,035/t for 60-14 grade and by 3% to $1,185/t for 65-16 grade from Haldia and Vizag ports amid muted demand from importing countries. Meanwhile, domestic silico manganese prices fell 2% to INR 77,700/t ex- Durgapur, INR 78,600/t ex-Vizag and INR 78,900/t ex-Raipur w-o-w.
Ferro manganese
Exported ferro manganese prices decreased by 8% to $1,100/t for HC 70% and declined by 5% to $1,195/t for HC 75% grade. Meanwhile domestic ferro manganese prices decreased by 3% to INR 85,000/t ex-Durgapur and increased by 9% to INR 80,020/t in Raipur.

Ferro chrome
Ferro chrome prices in India fell due to declining buying interest amid bearish stainless steel market conditions, as assessed on 2 June. Ferro chrome (HC60%) prices this week dropped INR 5,850/t w-o-w to INR 109,650/t exw-Jajpur. In anticipation of further price drops, most buyers held on to their inquiries. Nevertheless, a few buyers who needed material immediately went for bookings.

Ferro silicon
In India, ferro silicon prices dropped as the market saw low to moderate activity and small quantities were traded. As prices continued to drop, market participants went into a wait-and-watch mode. As a result, producers reduced offers by INR 3,000/t w-o-w to INR 125,050/t exw-Guwahati because of weak demand. In addition, producers in Bhutan were offering at INR 126,750/t exw.

Trade
SteelMint recorded trades of around 16,000 t of bulk ferro alloys this week out of which manganese alloys traded were at around 14,000 t and ferro chrome at 2,000 t.

Tenders & auctions

• SAIL accepted seven techno-commercial bids for its ferro silicon tender for procurement of 18,395 t ferro silicon for the various units of the company. By the end of the month, a reverse auction might be conducted.
• AM/NS India floated a supply tender for 1,200 t of medium-carbon ferro manganese (10-50 mm, Mn min 78%, C 1.5%) for its Gujarat-based plant. The last date for bid submission was 10 June.
• OMC will conduct an auction for 84,300 t of chrome ore on 17 June.