MARKET TREND
Conforming to the market speculations, Coking Coal prices have continued with the falling trend, and buyers halting purchases waiting for the prices to slide to the lowest.
Prompted by over-supply, the coal sellers in Australia, the prime Coking Coal supply region, have been constantly lowering their spot prices aimed at enticing buyers. These days are the rainy season in Australia; and heavy rains in the Queensland region have, however, had no impact on the coal market, with surplus availability ruling the market.
Demand for the coal from China has been lukewarm as steel makers there were with high inventories of unsold steel inventories, forcing them to operate their steel plants at lower rates; and at the same time, prices of the coal have come down in the domestic markets of that country. In a communication with a trader in the Shanxi market of China, market prices of Coking Coal were learnt to have slipped by around Yuan 30/MT to around Yuan 1,150/MT.
Moreover, there was increase in the production of Coking Coal in China, leading to the buyers there waiting for the domestic prices to recede further.
In the meantime, the Indian steel makers were avoiding bulk imports of the coal, as they preferred waiting for the coal prices to decline to significant levels.
Given the inactive demand scenario, the coal prices are likely to come down further.
PRICE TREND
According to the latest assessment, export offers for the Premium HCC have slipped to around USD 198/MT FoB Australia, which was down by around USD 16/MT over the week-ago offers. Likewise, export offers for the 64 Mid Vol HCC have fallen to around USD 192.20/MT FoB Australia, a decline of around USD 14.7/MT in comparison with the offers assessed in the week last.
Source: CoalMint Research
On CFR India basis, these offers amount to: USD 212.65/MT and USD 196.85/MT respectively.
In the meantime, a Canadian Coking Coal offer was heard at around USD 173/MT FoB.
IMPORTS
During the current month, around 3.4 MnT of Coking Coal was imported in India upto the 23rd of the month, data compiled by CoalMint Research shows.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Mining major—Rio Tinto—will completely exit the Coking Coal business with the sale of its last Coking Coal assets on the cards. The global mining major is in the advanced stages of selling its Kestrel coal mine at Queensland of Australia to the consortium formed by EMR Capital and PT Adaro Energy TBK. The deal is heard to be finalized at USD 2.25 billon.
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