Indian domestic prices for blast furnace grade metallurgical coke have surged in recent weeks after having remained steady until a few weeks earlier, amid buyers’ concerns on limited availability.
India’s domestically produced met coke prices for the 25-90 mm, blast furnace grade are currently hovering at around INR 25,000/t (east coast) and INR 25,500/t (west coast).
While a persistent supply tightness of both seaborne and domestic met coke – along with higher restocking demand from steelmakers – have boosted domestic coke prices, many end-users are reluctant to purchase imported coke due to higher than expected prices.
CoalMint currently assesses the spot blast furnace met coke price for the 64% CSR grade at $357/t CNF India, up $8/t w-o-w.
The 62% CSR grade BF metcoke is currently assessed at $348/t CNF India — also up by $8/t w-o-w.
Sustained high prices for imported met coke have pushed Indian end-users towards increasing their domestic procurement from local suppliers.
This is clearly evident from the decreased volumes of met coke imported in India last month. India imported 352,046 t of met coke in November — down by over 6% m-o-m, as compared against 375,503 t imported during the previous month of October.
Earlier however, Indian met coke imports had increased for four consecutive months until October as there has been considerable recovery in demand from domestic steelmakers notwithstanding the moderate demand scenario.
Nevertheless, the ongoing supply tightness is predicted to last until at least the next quarter, as supported levels of steel production are expected to continue supporting coke demand and prices thereof.
Meanwhile, imported coking coal prices have dipped slightly this week, despite continued demand from steelmakers for competitively priced premium hard coking coals. However, a fresh flurry of bookings was done in the premium coking coal segment earlier last week, driving prices slightly higher.
Latest prices for the Premium HCC and the 64 Mid Vol HCC grades are assessed at around $115/t and $107/t on CNF India basis.
MMTC invites bids for domestic sale of coke
The Central PSU Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation Limited (MMTC), on behalf of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) has floated an open tender for domestic sale of a total quantity of 25,000 t of different grades of low ash metallurgical (LAM) coke.
Bids have been invited from interested buyers/traders for 10,000 t of LAM coke (1000 t/lot), 5000 t of nut coke (500 t/lot) and 10,000 t of coke breeze (1000 t/lot) to be sold ex-plant NINL. The bids have to be submitted electronically by 22 Dec’20.
~
By Aditya Sinha
Leave a Reply