India: Portside South African thermal coal prices under pressure amid weak buying interest

• Sponge iron prices in India inch down w-o-w
• South Africa’s thermal coal exports to India drop in Feb’25

Portside prices of South African thermal coal in India continued to decline w-o-w at Gangavaram Port, with RB2 (5500 NAR) dropping by INR 50/t to INR 8,400/t exw, while RB3 (4800 NAR) remained stable at INR 7,100/t exw.

Notably, South African coal exports to India have witnessed a drop recently. The steep 41% m-o-m decline in February volumes to 1.58 mnt from 2.69 mnt in January further weighed on sentiment.

Thermal coal inventories at Indian ports dropped by 6.5% (w-o-w) to 12.08 million tonnes (mnt) in week 10 of CY’25, down from 12.92 mnt in the previous week, according to data from BigMint.

South African coal export offers decline: South Africa’s RB2 (5500 NAR) coal export offers fell by $0.5/t w-o-w to $77.5/t FOB, while RB3 (4800 NAR) remained stable at $60/t FOB.

Indian thermal coal prices stable: Domestic thermal coal prices in India remained unchanged, with 4500 GCV trading at INR 4,600/t and 5000 GCV at INR 5,350/t, both exw-Bilaspur. Traders noted limited activity, but market dynamics may shift once trading resumes post festival.

Sponge iron ore prices decline w-o-w: Indian C-DRI prices fell by INR 150/t w-o-w to INR 26,450/t exw-Rourkela from INR 26,600/t last week.

Outlook

Market activity remained sluggish, with very limited deals as some end-users held two-three months of stock, reducing immediate buying interest. However, a slight price increase was observed at Mangalore Port due to availability constraints. Admittedly, supply concerns at select ports may support prices in specific regions.