MOIL Limited of India increased prices after 5 straight quarterly declines on expectation demand for the steelmaking material will rebound as lower interest rates spur spending.

Mr Kumar Jitendra Singh chairman of MOIL Limited said that the state run company which supplies 40% of India’s manganese demand, raised prices by as much as 12% for the 3 months ending June.

India’s steel demand is expected to expand 8% in the year ending March 31 from 5.5% the previous year as declining interest rates fuel purchases of homes, automobiles, appliances and stimulates government spending. Steel Authority of India Limited which consumes almost Q1 of MOIL’s production plans to increase capacity by 55% to 21.4 million tonnes this year.

Mr Singh said that “We are seeing demand for manganese ore returning after more than a year. Prices had plummeted about 33% in the previous year.”

Source - Bloomberg.net

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