India: Bids remain steady in Sandur's latest manganese ore auction

• Buyers book only 9% of offered quantity
  
  
• Preference seen largely for lower grades
  
  

Sandur Manganese and Iron Ore (SMIORE) conducted an auction for around 91,897 tonnes (t) of manganese ore (Mn: 20-40%, -10-100 mm) on 24 January 2025. Notably, bids for Mn: 30-32% and Mn: 26-28% grades remained firm compared to the previous auction on 13 January.

According to sources, only around 8,064 t (Mn: 26-34%) were booked at INR 2,520-14,810/t, while nearly 83,833 t remained unsold, as per data compiled by BigMint. This indicates that only around 9% of the offered quantity was booked.

Buyers largely showed a preference for lower grades (32-34%), as around six lots of the same were successfully sold. These were the highest sold among all grades.

Key updates

Bids remain firm: Bids for Mn: 30-32% were at INR 9,960/t ($116/t) in the auction on 24 January, unchanged compared to bids on 13 January.

However, bids for Mn: 20-22% grade were at INR 2,928/t ($34/t) in the latest auction, which is a slight rise of INR 8/t from the previous auction where bids were at INR 2,920/t ($33/t).

Bids remain steady against base prices: In the recent auction, base prices and bids were almost at the same levels. For instance, the base price of Mn: 26-28% was INR 8,290/t ($96/t), while the weighted average of bids for the same stood at INR 8,290/t ($96/t).

Mn: 36-38% had its base price fixed at INR 14,810/t ($172/t), and bids were concluded at a weighted average of INR 14,810/t ($172/t).

Similarly, there were no differences between base prices and bids for the other grades (18-20%, 30-32%, and 32-34%).

Silico manganese prices have remained firm at INR 70,500/t ($817/t) on 24 January exw-Vizag, when compared to INR 70,800/t ($821/t) on 13 January, as per BigMint. This may have resulted in bids remaining stable at SMIORE manganese ore auctions.