Indian Petcoke Market Sees Strong Demand, Stable Domestic Prices

The Petcoke market in India is bearing strong demand, stable domestic prices; and international offers almost at the week-ago rates.

Traders, spoken to by CoalMint, said that demand for Petcoke was strong as the user-industries were purchasing heavily to cater to the growing consumption arising due to plants being operated at high rates. In addition to the cement producers, other consuming sectors also operated their plant at high rates, necessitating constant purchases of the fuel.

On the other side, there were supply shortages due to the refinery of HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited being shut-down for maintenance. According to a market participant, the maintenance shut-down pertaining to the refinery will last until the end of May’17.

Offers from the key international markets have dipped slightly as productions in the regions were up. The latest offer for Petcoke (6.5% Sulphur) from USA is assessed lower by around USD 2/MT at USD 96-98/MT CFR India. The recent offer for Petcoke (9% Sulphur) from Saudi Arabia is also assessed at USD 88-90/MT CFR India, lower by around USD 2/MT than the week-ago rate.

Source: CoalMint Research

On the other hand, Indian producers have retained their ex-works prices at the last revised rates. Reliance Industries Limited, the largest producer in the country, has quoted its ex-works price at INR 7,150/MT; while, the price quote of Essar, the country’s second largest producer, is at INR 7,145/MT.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has quoted its ex-works price at INR 6,180/MT, for customers outside the Karnataka state; and for customers within the state, the price is quoted at INR 6,080/MT.

Source: CoalMint Research

IMPORTS

Petcoke imports have been entering into India due to the strong demand. During the 1-12 May’17 period, around 156,950 MT of Petcoke was imported into the country, data compiled by CoalMint Research shows.

Demand for Petcoke is going to rise substantially due to the increasing consumption by the cement producers. In India, demand for cement is going to rise by 4-5% in the next couple of years.