- Manganese alloys production rises on capacity expansion
- Smelters restock ahead of elections, reap price benefits
- Higher crude steel output fuels Mn alloy demand
Morning Brief:Â India’s imported manganese ore volumes rose a sharp 29% y-o-y to 2.46 million tonnes (mnt) over January-May 2024 (5MCY’24) against 1.91 mnt in the same period last year.
Country-wise imports
South Africa remained the largest exporter over January-May 2024, with 1.42 mnt, showing an increase of 18% y-o-y. Gabon followed with 0.85 mnt, up 60% y-o-y, while Cote D Ivoire was in third place with 0.15 mnt, recording a humongous growth of 150% y-o-y but on a low base.
Grade-wise imports: A mixed trend
The grade-wise break-up throws up a mixed trend. This was mainly because smelters went slow in importing grades for which there was adequate domestic availability, which eased the reliance on imports but underscored the point that demand overall had increased. In fact, domestic manganese ore production rose 8% to 1.61 mnt over 5MCY’24 y-o-y (1.49 mnt) to feed the growing off-take.
