Weekly round-up: Ferro alloy prices under pressure amid increased supply

Ferro alloys prices in the domestic as well as overseas markets saw a decline w-o-w due to a surplus of supply while demand for all sub-commodities remained moderate.

Sub-commodity wise overview

• Manganese ore
  
  

Manganese ore import prices into India for Mn: 44-46% fell marginally by 1% w-o-w. Prices of Mn37% grade were at $3.9/dmtu; Mn44% at $4.8/dmtu, and Mn46% grade at $5.15/dmtu. All prices were CIF India. The market remained range-bound, with prices fluctuating amid uncertain trends.

Additionally, UMK decreased manganese ore (Mn:37%) offers to $3.75/dmtu CIF China for July shipments.

• IEX power
  
  

According to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the weekly average spot prices (18-24 June) in the day-ahead-market dropped by 2% w-o-w to INR 5.593/unit as against INR 5.705/unit last week. Prices remained range-bound while the market saw an uptick in demand. However, a slight improvement was also registered in the power supply.

• Silico manganese
  
  

Prices of silico manganese imported from Haldia and Vizag ports were in a tight range w-o-w. Prices for 60-14 grade remained stable w-o-w at $858/t while 65-16 grade prices were at $922/t, down 1% w-o-w.

Domestic silico manganese prices dropped by 2% from the previous week to INR 69,400/t ex-Durgapur, INR 70,200/t ex-Raipur, and INR 70,600/t ex-Vizag. Reduced export bookings led to a decrease in domestic prices.

• Ferro manganese
  
  

India's exported ferro manganese prices stood at $900/t FOB India for HC70%. Meanwhile, HC75% grade prices were stable w-o-w at $930/t FOB India.

Domestic ferro manganese prices stood at INR 72,200/t ex-Durgapur, up 2% from the previous week. Despite low volume of deals and persistent problems, the ferro manganese spot market remained positive.

Ferro chrome

Indian ferro chrome prices hovered at around INR 109,100/t ex-Jajpur. The majority of deals settled between INR 109,000-110,350/t. The recently concluded FACOR chrome ore auction on 21 June was also in the same league.

Some trades were recorded at lower prices of INR 108,000/t as well. Due to an oversupply in the domestic market, ferro chrome (HC 60%) prices fell by INR 1,100/t this week.

Ferro silicon

Domestic ferro silicon (70%) prices declined by INR 900/t w-o-w due to lower demand from buyers who expected additional price declines. Bhutan's prices were around INR 115,000/t exw, down INR 500/t y-o-y. The majority of the plants in Bhutan were shut down last week due to a transmission line failure and maintenance being done by Bhutan Power Corporation. It did hinder production, but because they had orders in advance to fill, producers were unwilling to decrease their prices any further.

Trade

Tender result

Tender notice