Manganese ore prices remain unchanged amid lackluster Manganese Alloy market. Reportedly, demand for imported ore is much higher in the domestic market.

Private miners in Balaghat have held their offers unchanged owing to very low end-user demand. In the domestic market, there is availability of low quality Manganese ore and so most end-users prefer imported ore, which is of a better quality. Manganese alloy market seems unaffected by the Supreme Court’s order of mining ban in Odisha, as there is a sufficient availability of Manganese ore.

“The market seems very weak. There’s a lot of material available, which is very difficult to sell,” remarked a miner from Balaghat.
SteelMint assessed that Indian Manganese ore market was subdued, as demand for Manganese alloys remains weak along with decent demand for imported ore, which holds a sizeable share of the trading volume.

Seaborne Manganese ore offers to India for high grade ore are still stable as there is no price correction from big miners. BHP Australian Manganese ore (46% grade) is offered at around USD 4.7 /DMTU CIF India. South-African Carbonated ore (36-37% grade) prices remain unchanged and are offered at USD 3.8 /DMTU CIF India by UMK. While, there has been pressure on miners from China and India to reduce prices as no price reduction has been done yet.

“Manganese ore is a sellers’ market. When the miner is not willing to lower the price, buyers just have to pay at that price to get the cargo,” a Kolkata-based trader said.
Indian steel market is facing a seasonal slack and so the Ferro Alloy market also. This has led Indian Manganese alloy producers to lose interest in procuring the raw material.

• [Editor:Sophie]