Coking coal imports to India rise by 27% M-o-M in May 2015, which were quiet low in April.
Other than monsoon, which is one of the most important factor for rise in imports by 27% i.e. 4.2 MnT last month, low prices was the other.
Importers of Coking coal believed that it is the right time for them to place orders for Australian Coking coal, looking at downtrend in prices. Also, prices were unexpected to sustain at low levels, taking advantage of which, material was booked in good quantities.
Australia’s premium hard coking coal prices are at around USD 85-86/MT FOB Australia and Semi-hard coking coal are at USD 77-78/MT FOB Australia. No major change has been observed.
Current freight rates are USD 14/MT for Supramax, USD 10/MT for Panamax and USD 8/MT for Capesize. They remain almost same.
In the months ahead, market participants don’t foresee a big alteration in Coking coal prices and expect them to fall/rise by nearly USD 1-2/MT.
As China has starting stocking Coking coal since last week, prices should not weaken much in the near future, said buyers.
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