Indian miners raise manganese ore offers m-o-m for May'24
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Indian manganese ore miners have hiked their offers for May 2024, for grades above 44%, post-MOIL's price announcements.
MOIL has increased manganese ore prices today for May, 2024. Mn grades above 44% have witnessed a 40% growth in offers m-o-m, while lumps below 44% have increased by 25%, BigMint learned.
Price offers from key mining regions:
Madhya Pradesh: The key miners from Madhya Pradesh have raised their manganese ore offers in the market post-MOIL's price announcements. A tremendous uptick by 44% in prices for grades between 44-46% was seen. The reason behind this price jump was the unavailability of the high-grade ore and heightened demand.
Odisha: After keeping prices largely stable in the last month, miners from Odisha have also increased prices of ore going hand-in-hand with the price offers by the India's largest miner MOIL. Grades below 44% saw a fair hike by 22% in the prices. A key miner revealed, "The sudden spike in domestic manganese ore prices was attributed to major declaration by one of the biggest global manganese ore miner, regarding the temporary production closure and shutdown of their mines."
Vizag: A prominent miner offered only grades below 25% from this region which accounted to a 33% hike in the prices this month. "After dragging down the prices to its bottom levels from the last 6 months, finally an air of goodness has arrived where we as miners can also survive, this price rise was majorly impacted by the global shortage of the ore."
Factors behind rise in manganese ore prices:
Imported manganese ore prices rise 7% m-o-m in March: Indian manganese ore imports got expensive m-o-m, with prices up by 7% m-o-m. Rising prices, spurred by overseas suppliers hiking rates due to supply constraints and a production halt by a major Australian miner. This tightens supply, elevating immediate delivery costs to India, impacted manganese alloy production expenses. Monitoring global supply and producers' actions remained crucial for forecasting price trends.
Cautiousness stems from high production costs and narrow margins, dampening buying activities. Market watchers scrutinise downstream demand to assess if increased imports indicate a lasting market shift.
Indian silico manganese prices hit 2-year high: The domestic silico manganese market has experienced a dramatic price surge this week. Prices have jumped significantly, this marks the highest price point in two years, surpassing the previous peak observed in May 2022. Panic buying amid hike in demand, both in the domestic and global markets, lifted offers.
Outlook
As per BigMint's analysis, prices of manganese ore are anticipated to witness further rise for June, 2024 offers, after looking on to the global shortages of the manganese ore.
Meanwhile, monitoring global and domestic demand for manganese alloys, along with imported manganese ore prices, is advised for gaining clarity on manganese ore price trends.