Coking Coal price down slide continues due to the supplies gaining momentum in Australia.
SUPPLIES GAINING MOMENTUM
In Australia, exports of Coking Coal are picking up after all the coal handling terminals at the ports in the Queensland region resumed full-fledged operations after the suspension of operations post Debbie cyclone hitting the region, damaging the transport infrastructure.
With the resumption of the exports, due to supply availability, spot prices of the coal have been falling continuously.
The recent spot price of the Premium HCC is assessed at USD 178/MT FoB Australia, lower by USD 54/MT over the week-ago rate. The latest spot price of the 64 Mid Vol HCC is also assessed lower by USD 52/MT at USD 165/MT FoB Australia in comparison with the rate assessed the week last.
Source: CoalMint Research
For Indian buyers, these spot prices translate into: USD 189/MT and USD 176/MT respectively on CFR India basis.
MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
Glencore, a major coal mining company, has begun the sales process for its Tahmoor Mine, situated at the Southern Highlands Region in the New South Wales of Australia. The mine produced approximately 1.8 MnT of Coking Coal last year.
Negotiation for fixing the quarterly price of Coking Coal between Australian miners and Japanese steel mills will take place in Tokyo within this week. The negotiation was put on hold due to the disruption resulted from the Debbie cyclone incident.
For Q1 2017, the price was set at USD 285/MT FoB Australia, which was the highest since 2011. For Q4 2016, the price was fixed at USD 200/MT FoB Australia. Interestingly, the price was significantly lower at USD 81/MT FoB Australia for Q1 2016.
According to the buzz in the industry, Japan’s steel makers are likely to negotiate the price at around USD 150/MT FoB Australia.
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