The Indian market for seaborne metallurgical coke has been lately observing a relatively moderate buying trend amidst a slightly higher offering level.
CoalMint currently assesses the spot price for the 64% CSR grade blast furnace met coke at $422.00/tonne (t) CNF India, up by $2/t on a week-on-week (w-o-w) basis.
The 62% CSR grade BF met coke is currently assessed at $380.00/t CNF India, unchanged w-o-w.
Pre-monsoon demand likely to be dull
Buyers in India typically stock up on steelmaking raw materials before the monsoon season between July and September.
This year, however, some end-users have slowed down their restocking activities because of the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in India.
Amidst escalating uncertainties in terms of transportation and production, coke plants may become cautious, and reduce their coking coal procurement from Australia and the United States, among others.
India Met Coke Import Shipment Vessel Lineup
CoalMint’s latest vessel lineup data reveals that a total quantity of 314,031 t of Australian coking coal was expected to reach various Indian ports by 20 Jun’20. These include 223,770 t at Hazira (Gujarat), 15,000 t at Paradip (Odisha) and 8,311 t at Vizag (Andhra Pradesh).
Furthermore, Indian coal traders and producers have been actively looking at export options for better price realisations compared to domestic sales.
A total volume of 245,350 t of metallurgical coke has been exported till May’21 to countries such as Vietnam, Brazil, Romania, Indonesia and Oman. Market participants strongly anticipate this trend to continue for the next 6-7 months at least.
Chinese domestic met coke prices stay firm
In China, domestic metallurgical coke prices are holding firm because steel margins are profitable and domestic demand is outstripping supply.
Coke plants’ utilisation rates are lower at present due to the recent environmental inspections. The resultant tight supply and firm demand from end-users would support coke prices in the near-run.
The latest price for domestic met coke with 12.5% ash in North China is assessed at CNY 2,870/t ($455.92/t), up CNY 70/t ($13.85/t) on the week.
Hence, most traders are unwilling to export coke because domestic prices are increasing frequently in the short term and some of them could not even secure cargoes from coke plants.
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