Petcoke buying sentiments in India have turned bearish after the domestic producers having raised their ex-works prices by INR 650/MT last week.
Shortages in key international markets continue
Acute shortage of the material continued to persist in the key international markets. While, demand from Indian cement manufacturers continued to be strong.
According to a reputed importer, import offers have gone up record-high due to shortages in the key international markets. He further revealed that there is now almost no difference between import offers from Saudi Arabia and USA in terms of the rates.
Quoting the prevailing rates, the importer said that the latest import offers of Petcoke (9% Sulphur) from Saudi Arabia and that of the material (6.5% Sulphur) from USA are at around USD 75/MT CFR India respectively; and also, the material is not available for immediate loading.
Buyers lower purchases after price hike
In the Indian market, some buyers have lowered their purchases after the substantial price hike last week by domestic producers. However, the overall demand remained strong. Despite the price hike, cement manufacturers continued to use Petcoke, without substituting with coal.
On 1 July’16, Reliance Industries Limited, the largest producer in the country, had raised its ex-works price by INR 650/MT to INR 5,600/MT; and Essar, the second largest producer in the country, also had hiked its ex-works price by the same amount to INR 5,590/MT.
Source: Market
Prices in INR
Indian Imports
In the meantime, imports, booked earlier, continued to land at Indian ports. During Jun’16, 1.35 MnT of Petcoke was imported into the country, according to SteelMint Research. The import quantity is slightly higher than the quantity imported in May’16, at 1.3 MnT, SteelMint Research also shows.
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