India: Seaborne manganese ore prices lowest in 2020; expected to fall further

Seaborne Manganese ore prices have decreased yet again to the year to date lowest. It is the second time in the year, the prices have hit this low. Prices have decreased mainly due to weak buying sentiments from the Chinese market, which is also the largest market for manganese ore.

Current prices for manganese ore CNF India are at $3.95/dmtu for Mn 37% of South African origin, $4.3/dmtu for Mn 44% of Gabonese origin and $4.6/dmtu for Mn 46% of Australian origin.

Meanwhile, the buying sentiment is weak in India, as the major buyers booked earlier fearing seaborne manganese ore prices might turnaround and hence have sufficient inventory for the next two months. SteelMint learned from sources that these bookings were concluded for December deliveries.

However, with all the major miners reducing manganese ore offers, Indian buyers are hopeful for a further fall in prices, and would look to book cargoes for January shipment. Meanwhile, the inventory in Chinese ports is breaking records every week, with the manganese ore inventory at above 7mn t currently.

The manganese miners are now desperate to sell as the ore is getting piled up at the ports. Miners are now reluctantly reducing offers for concluding bulk orders. However, this has made the Indian buyers more conservative about procuring manganese ore as they firmly believe the prices to fall further by around 50 cents/dmtu in the coming weeks.