Australian premium hard coking coal prices were mostly unchanged during the ongoing Christmas holiday period, without any fresh spot activity, as market participants awaited Chinese Q1 long term prices from Shanxi.
However, at this juncture, only China has been observing a plethora of trading activities on the back of their bullish metallurgical coke market, while countries like India among other key markets in the Asia-Pacific region remains silent.
The seaborne market demand continues focusing on February-loading cargoes in the premium hard coking coal segment.
In the meantime, however, a number of end-user tenders took place this week in China, for premium hard coking coal and port stocks.
Chinese domestic coking coal prices are anticipated to hold steady for Q1 2020, particularly for premium hard coking coal with low ash and sulfur from Shanxi. Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China’s biggest coal producer, is expected to shortly announce its Q1 long-term price.
PRICE ASSESSMENTS
Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around USD 136.00/MT FOB Australia, higher by USD 0.85/MT than the average rate of USD 135.15/MT prevailing during the week gone by (16th – 20th Dec’19).
Offers for the 64 Mid Vol HCC grade are assessed at around USD 122.05/MT FOB Australia.
For Indian buyers, the above offers amount to USD 149.30/MT and USD 135.35/MT respectively on CNF India basis,
Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) & Semi Soft Coking Coal
| FOB Australia | CNF China | CNF India | |
| Low Vol PCI | 86.80 | 99.75 | 100.10 |
| Mid Tier PCI | 82.80 | 95.75 | 96.10 |
| Semi Soft | 75.05 | 88.00 | 88.35 |
N.B.: All prices are in USD/MT
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