Rising Input Costs and Supply Shortage Spurts Silico Manganese Prices in India

Silico manganese a key raw material for steel production has recorded a sharp surge in prices in the last few days. Rising input costs due to rallied manganese ore prices have prompted producers to increase prices. With the recent hike, the prevailing silico manganese prices are at a 2-year high, similar to the last high prices recorded in May 2022.

Why did the Silico Manganese Prices Increase Significantly?

The prices of manganese ore – a crucial raw material for silico manganese production have gone up.  The surge of 25-40% in MOIL’s (Manganese Ore India Limited) May prices affected the input costs. With a 50% market share, MOIL is the largest producer of manganese ore in India.

According to participants, since the shortage of manganese ore has risen worldwide, the prices have increased sharply.

Sources from central and eastern India reported that significant reduction in high-grade manganese ore shipments from Africa’s Gabon, resulted in a crisis like situation for high-grade ore availability for Indian steel mills. 

Amidst a rising shortage of manganese ore, import offers of South Africa recorded a 7-8%, while the Australian and Gabonese origin manganese ore prices jumped by 14-15% in April.

Thus, due to the shortage of the raw material, the producers feel that the production of silico manganese may get hampered and input costs to remain higher in the coming days. This influenced them to raise their prices.

Silico Manganese Prices

• According to the assessment, the prices of silico manganese surged by Rs 7,000-9,000/ton in just 3-4 days and approximately Rs 20,000-21,000/ton (US$ 240-252) week-on-week basis.

• Current offers for 60-14 grade stood at Rs 95,000-95,500/ton in Raipur, while in Durgapur reported at about Rs 93,000-94,000/ton. The offers from producers and traders quite vary in the market, resulting in a cautious approach by buyers to procure material at a higher price range.

Market Outlook for Silico Manganese Industry

Considering manganese ore availability, the market indicates further support in the silico manganese industry. However, the spot trades seem to be lessened, as steel mills turned cautious to book material in quantities on the prevailing offers. Hence, a volatility in prices can be seen, analysing to shortage of materials.

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