Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged lower on Thursday, after a steady start to the week on fresh bookings concluded at lower levels in the FOB China market.
In the hard coking coal segment, however, prices inched up, after an Australian shipment of 90,000 MT HCC was sold to a Chinese end-user on Tuesday, at USD 186/MT CFR China with mid-August laycan.
Another trade was reported on Monday for 75,000 MT of Australian HCC at USD 174.10/MT FOB Australia with mid-August laycan.
At present, Chinese mills are hardly looking to buy any spot seaborne coking coal cargoes in recent weeks in the light of persistently tight margins for steel. In fact, certain mills were heard to have curtailed the volumes of coking coal booked under long-term import contracts.
Indian steelmaking margins have also been drastically squeezed, with significantly higher iron ore prices, potentially leading to low demand from end-users.
In the pulverized coal injection (PCI) segment, prices are declining on scant with little buying interest in markets outside China. A Capesize cargo of Australian PCI with 14% VM and 9.5%-10.5% ash was heard transacted during this week.
| FOB Australia | CNF China | CNF India | |
| Low Vol PCI | 115.75 | 129.00 | 131.00 |
| Mid Tier PCI | 113.75 | 127.00 | 129.00 |
| Semi Soft | 87.75 | 101.00 | 103.00 |
PRICE ASSESSMENTS
Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around USD 184.00/MT FOB Australia, lower by USD 6.55/MT than the average rate of USD 190.55/MT prevailing in the week gone by (1-5 Jul’19).
Offers for the 64 Mid Vol HCC grade are assessed at around USD 172.75/MT FOB Australia.
For Indian buyers, the above offers amount to USD 199.25/MT and USD 188.00/MT respectively on CNF India basis.
Leave a Reply