Prices of imported petroleum coke have been declining since the multi-year high of USD 118/MT in Mar’18, because of subdued demand as more and more end-users have been switching to US thermal coal to avoid pollution issues.
As a matter of fact, most Indian cement makers have reduced booking pet coke imports in view of the uncertainty looming over the future industrial usage of the ‘dirty’ fuel due to its proposed nationwide ban by the Supreme Court.
India’s coal import fell by 9% to 17.32 million metric tons (MMT) in Apr’18, from 19.08 MMT in Apr’17, according to a recent statement by mjunction services, a joint venture between SAIL and TATA Steel.
Reportedly, the lower volume of coal and coke imports can be partially attributed to a fall in pet coke imports during the last month.
In particular, India’s demand for petroleum coke declined 0.7% to 2.2 MMT in Apr’18 as compared to the corresponding month a year ago.
Furthermore, in India the pace of demand growth for the fuel has already begun to slow — although the country’s pet coke consumption rose 9% last fiscal to about 26 MMT, the yearly growth registered in 2017-2018 is much lower than the double-digit growth recorded in the last seven years.
On the pricing front, there was neither any change in the international offers nor in the domestic prices of pet coke in India. The latest offers for pet coke (6.5% sulfur) from USA are assessed at around USD 108/MT CFR India, while offers for pet coke (9% sulfur) from Saudi Arabia are assessed at around USD 105/MT CFR India.
The prevailing domestic pet coke prices stay at INR 9,050/MT (Reliance Industries Ltd.), INR 9,040/MT (Essar) and INR 8,230/MT (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.).
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