The imported price for US-origin pet coke remained in a tight range this month as procurement from cement manufacturers remained weak.
Following the trend of the last two months, the imported prices with 6% sulphur further recorded a drop of $8-9/t as it was assessed at $166-167/t, against $174-175/t in Dec’21, CFR India basis.
However, the latest CFR India price for petcoke with 8.5% sulphur recorded a slight increase by $12-13/t m-o-m and were assessed at $142-143/t against the earlier price of $131-132/t last month.
The increase in prices of the latter came against the backdrop of higher discounts offered by sellers following sluggish sales for the most part of CY’21.
The slight increase in US origin pet coke with 8,5% sulphur has reduced the gap of Saudi Coke and US Coke to $24/t, which was much higher by $43/t in the last month. The gap is likely to further reduce to a more reasonable range within 10% of US pet coke price.
The sea freight for a Supramax vessel (50000-55000 MT) is currently assessed at $62/t, largely unchanged from Dec’21.
Fall from historic high
Over the last two months, US origin pet coke prices have sharply declined by a whopping range of $93/t from its historic highs of $260/t in Oct’21.
The sharp decline in the prices has come against the backdrop of reduced buying interest from cement manufacturers. While a 10% m-o-m decline in South Africa, US, and Australian coal prices in Dec’21 also played a major role behind the fall in pet coke prices, which is the major alternate fuel for cement manufacturers.
The cement industries continue to shift between the fuel as in CY’21, despite the fluctuation on coal prices, thermal coal was much cheaper than petcoke in term of per Kcal basis.
India’s overall consumption for pet coke during Apr’21-Nov’21 has been reported at 8.75 mn t, down 22.4% y-o-y.
Indian players follows suit
Based on the current market trend in the international market, major domestic petcoke producers RIL and Nayara Energy have already reduced their prices over INR 1,600/t and its likely to keep its prices lower in the upcoming months.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has also reduced its prices by INR 2,600-3,600/t this month, while Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd has reduced its prices by INR 770/t m-o-m basis for Jan’22.
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