Saturday, March 26,
Following flash-floods in Australia’s Queensland province, the price of coking coal had skyrocketed to $ 350/MT just two weeks back..* However, it felled sharply since then to $ 235/MT now. According to Steel Authority of India Chairman, Mr C S Verma on Friday, the coking coal prices, that have softened in the last two weeks, will fall further on expected rise in production.
“Coking coal prices in spot market have already fallen. I am of the firm opinion that the current coking coal price of $ 235 a tonne cannot be sustainable. For the last two weeks, coking coal prices have been softening, especially on Japan fall-out. Japan is importing about 10 million tonnes every month. So, there is more availability in the market,” he added.
Mr Verma said the coking coal price would come to normalcy once mining companies in Australia resume full operations.
When asked if SAIL has entered into a contract for supply of coking coal for the April-June quarter, he said that the company was yet to take a final call, but it would soon happen.
SAIL requires around 15 million tonnes of coking coal a year. Only 4.5 MT is met through domestic sources and the remaining 10.5 MT comes from imports, around 60 per cent of which comes from Australia.
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