Indian Private Miners Raise Manganese Ore Prices

Private miners from Balaghat have raised their offers, in line with increase in prices by MOIL and higher Manganese Ore prices globally.

Indian private miners have had to raise their offers on account of high cost of production as well. Moreover, high Manganese Ore prices in global market and increase in prices by Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) lent further support to higher offers. Earlier, MOIL hiked prices by 10% across all its product offerings for remainder of Q1 (April-June).

SteelMint assessed that prices of Manganese Ore (Ex-Balaghat) increased substantially at INR 7500/MT for 28-30% grade, INR 16,500/MT for 42-44% and INR 15,500/MT for 40-42% grade respectively.

A Manganese Ore miner from Balaghat remarked that, certain government implications made it tough for private miners to sustain at current price levels."Recently, Indian Bureau of Mines is not allowing mining permission considering safety measures as unsatisfactory." He further revealed that mining companies have to refill the mined area with sand, and banning of sand mining by State Govt. has resulted in a shortage and sharp increase in sand prices, which is forcing most of the miners to shut their operations due to low margin. Another producer source from the region added that high power cost and limited labour availability during the rainy season also affects the pricing of the product.

On future outlook, market participants are of view that Manganese Ore offers might increase in July 1St week on account of high production cost.