Even though prices of imported petroleum coke remain at elevated levels, the Indian market scenario dwindles because of subdued demand as industrial units using pet coke have become amenable to switch over to thermal coal or natural gas to avoid pollution issues.
There are a few reasons for this. First, in November last year, the Indian Supreme Court temporarily banned the use of pet coke in the national capital region (NCR), and then subsequently raised the import duty of the fuel to 10% from 2.5%.
Second, on the cost side, pet coke prices have gone up in the range of 25-30% in the past one year, increasing the overall fuel costs for cement players.
Third, the Central government, in pursuance to the court order, is considering banning pet coke import across the nation.
Accordingly, most Indian cement manufacturers have already reduced booking import of pet coke in view of the uncertainty looming over the ‘polluting’ dry fuel derived from the refining of crude oil.
On a weekly price assessment basis, 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 115/MT CNF India, while offers for pet coke (9% sulfur) from Saudi Arabia are assessed at around USD 111/MT CNF India; both these offers have remained unchanged over the past week.
Source: CoalMint Research
The current domestic prices of pet coke are INR 9,450/MT (Reliance Industries Ltd.) and INR 8,280/MT (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.).
N.B.:
i. The above prices are effective 1 Jun’18.
ii. These prices are exclusive of GST @18%.
iii. The MRPL price is for pet coke transported by rake/barge.
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