Indian manganese ore production is expected to increase to 2.4 million tonnes in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2030, Tata Steel ferroalloys sales head Sunil Jha said at a summit on Wednesday.

According to Jha, the increase in manganese ore production is expected to coincide with India's National Steel Policy 2017 goal of producing 255mt of crude steel and achieving 300m t/year of crude steel production capacity.

Additionally, India’s manganese alloys (silicomanganese and ferromanganese) production will also grow to 3.2mt in FY30, Jha forecasted at the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI)’s ferroalloys summit in Kolkata attended by Kallanish.

According to Jha, India produced around 2.2mt of manganese ore and imported around 7mt in 2021. Imports, however, dropped by 10% on-year to 6.3mt in 2022 on the back of subdued steel demand in the EU amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

MOIL produced 1.3mt of manganese ore in 2021, Tata Steel produced 0.4mt, and other Indian companies produced 0.5mt, the ferroalloys sales head informed.

Jha also believes the ferroalloys market will experience a correction this year. Demand for ferroalloys plunged sharply in Europe because of the curtailment of steel production by European mills and weak macroeconomic conditions. However, the relief in energy costs provided by European authorities will slightly help the steel industry there.

Ferroalloys prices in China are expected to rise following the removal of Covid restrictions in steel production regions, meaning steel production will recover, and thus demand for ferroalloys will rise. Moreover, the Chinese government is expected to tackle the housing sector crisis, Jha added.

"The gloomy days are likely to be over with the market moving towards a correction," Jha concluded.