Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) has settled its October-December contract for semi-soft coking coal with an Australian supplier at USD 98/MT FOB Australia.
This current settlement price represents a drop of almost 15 percent from the company’s third-quarter semi-soft contract price of USD 115/MT FOB Australia.
Similarly, Nippon’s price for July-September marked an 11 percent fall from its second-quarter semi-soft price of USD 129/MT FOB.
Typically, prices for semi-soft are lower than for hard coking coal (HCC). The substantial price difference between semi-soft coking coal and hard coal has driven demand resurgence for the lower priced coal, with North Asian steel companies increasing their semi-soft coking coal purchases at the expense of hard coking coal.
Meanwhile however, growing Russian thermal coal exports are posing threat for the pulverized coal injection (PCI) and semi-soft coking coal markets in Asia although not necessarily for premium hard coking coal.
PRICE ASSESSMENTS
Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) & Semi Soft Coking Coal
| FOB Australia | CNF China | CNF India | |
| Low Vol PCI | 85.75 | 99.75 | 100.50 |
| Mid Tier PCI | 81.75 | 95.75 | 96.50 |
| Semi Soft | 74.25 | 88.25 | 89.00 |
N.B.: All prices are in USD/MT
Leave a Reply