Global pet coke demand has stagnated with Chinese and Indian buyers remaining largely on the sidelines in view of the ongoing uncertainty around a potential nationwide ban of the commodity in India and the prospect of the Trump administration imposing a 10%-25% tariff on US pet coke exports to China.
Presently in India, the continuing uncertainty over the issue relating to import of pet coke is under “active consideration” by the Supreme Court, as well as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
The Environment Ministry has suggested that the use of pet coke should be discouraged and the user industries should be asked to switch over to alternate environment-friendly fuels.
In general, there are two grades of pet coke — one of which has 6% to 7% sulfur content twice as high as coal burned in thermal power plants and thousand times as high as diesel vehicles on the road.
So, in layman’s terms, petroleum coke, the high sulfur fossil fuel distillate with 750,000 particles per million is one of the dirtiest fuels on earth.
But most importantly, India’s pet coke imports have been increasing dramatically in the last five years and so has been its unauthorized usage by innumerable manufactories and plants in Northern India.
As a matter of fact, India became the biggest importer of US pet coke in 2016 as per industry reports.
India’s own pet coke, produced domestically, adds to the pollution.
It’s also worth mentioning that besides Delhi and Agra, several industrial towns of north India – from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan – have been identified to be among the world’s most polluted cities.
Source: CoalMint Research
On the pricing front, latest offers for pet coke (6.5% sulphur) from the United States Gulf coast (USGC) are around USD 116-118/MT CNF India, but deals are hardly getting concluded.
Higher sulphur (9%) Saudi Arabia pet coke is assessed in a range of USD 109-112/MT CNF India.
Currently in India, domestic prices of pet coke are INR 9,600/MT (Reliance Industries Ltd.) and INR 8,540/MT (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.).
N.B.:
i. The above prices are effective 1 Jul’18.
ii. These prices are exclusive of GST @18%.
iii. The MRPL price is for pet coke transported by rake/barge.
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