Indian miners raise manganese ore offers m-o-m for Apr'24

Indian manganese ore miners have inched up their offers for April 2024, for grades above 44%, post-MOIL's price announcements.

MOIL, India's state-owned PSU miner, has increased manganese ore prices for April, 2024. Mn grades above 44% have had a 6% growth in offers m-o-m, while lumps below 44% have increased by 3%.

Price offers from key mining regions:

• Madhya Pradesh: Some of the prominent miners from Madhya Pradesh have hiked their offers mentioning that due to the high cost of production and subsequent rise in demand has resulted in increasing the prices. However, the changing climatic conditions has put a mark of tension on the mining of ore which will ultimately impact the availability of material.
  
  

• Odisha: The miners seemed to be in a wait-and-watch approach looking on the ongoing market volatility and unavailability of domestic manganese ore.
  
  

• Vizag: One of the prominent miners from Vishakhapatnam offered only for grades below 25%. An official of the miner stated "There is a slight rise in the demand as the prices of manganese alloys have increased. Additionally, the increased prices of imported manganese ore is also a significant reason for domestic price hikes." Quotes from Vishakhapatnam were up by INR 1,000/t ($12/t) for April, 2024 at INR 6,000/t ($72/t), (excluding GST, inclusive of royalty) which was INR 5,000/t ($60/t) in March, 2024.
  
  

Factors behind rise in manganese ore prices:

Imported manganese ore prices rise 5% m-o-m in March: The increase in imported manganese ore prices in March, particularly for South African origin Mn ore 37%, reflects a notable 5% m-o-m rise, reaching an average of $4.15/dmtu compared to $3.95/dmtu in February 2024. United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK), has also hiked offers for South African lumps (Mn 36%) for April, 2024 shipments to $3.95/dmtu CIF China. Despite this uptick, manganese ore buyers have maintained a cautious stance, viewing the recent import surge more as a short-term fluctuation rather than a sustained upward trend.

Several factors contributed to this cautious approach. Firstly, high production costs coupled with limited margins have subdued buying activities. Additionally, market participants are closely monitoring downstream demand to gauge whether this increase in imports signals a longer-term shift in market dynamics.

Surge in Indian silico manganese prices: The domestic prices of silico manganese in India experienced an uptick in past two weeks. Grade 60-14 prices saw a week-on-week rise of INR 1,400-1,800/t ($13-22/t), settling at INR 68,300-69,100/t ex-works ($821-830/t) in key production regions.

This increase in prices suggest a tightening of the market, possibly due to factors such as supply constraints or increased demand. Market participants will likely continue to monitor these developments closely to assess the sustainability of this upward trend in silico manganese prices in India.

Outlook

As per BigMint's analysis prices of manganese ore are anticipated to witness minor variations for May, 2024 offers, after analysing the global and domestic scenario.

Meanwhile, it is suggested to monitor the global and domestic demand of manganese alloys, prices of imported manganese ore to draw proper clarity of manganese ore prices.