Anode grade coke prices continued to remain higher in Feb’22 amid strong buying appetite from Chinese traders as demand for electric vehicle batteries rises in the country.
Chinese anode coke with 2% sulphur having vanadium 150-250 ppm increased to $700/tonnes (t) indicating an increase of $120-125/t m-o-m. Anode grade with 3% sulphur having vanadium 200-250 ppm increased on FOB basis by $75-80/t.
The prices increased last month amid restriction in production in China to improve the air quality during the Winter Olympics. Further, uncertainty due to the Russia and Ukraine conflict also contributed to the rise in anode coke prices.
Anode grade coke is mainly used in manufacturing calcined pet coke, a raw material for the aluminum industry.
With prices rising, a cargo from Argentina with 5% sulphur was sold to China at FOB $540-550/t FOB in early February. However, subsequently, the prices jumped sharply, but no cargo was available for supply.
A cargo from Oman was also sold at $431/t to China, while that from Indonesia was sold at $480/t. A Romanian cargo with 8% sulphur was also sold to China at $520/t FOB. A higher freight rate of $80-90/t indicated a strong demand for anode coke in China last month.
Another Petrobras cargo was sold at $420/t to the US, following which prices moved up to $480-500/t.
One of India’s leading calcined pet coke producers, Goa Carbon, recently finalised a high-sulphur anode coke deal from Malaysia with around 5% sulphur at $271/t on FOB basis for 17,000 t.
On the domestic front, the prices of IOC continue to remain the same since Nov’21 ranging from a high of $640-680/t. The hike has now been implemented by major players like RAIN CII, Goa Carbon, and others recently, as the prices in the international market increased considerably of late.
Calcined pet coke offers surge
Notably, tighter availability continued to keep Chinese calcined petroleum coke (CPC) prices high as the present offers in the country with 3% sulphur and vanadium 250-300 ppm have been assessed in the range of $750-760/t, FOB.
Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine conflict affected the availability of Rusal products in the global market reducing their availability which eventually pushed up aluminum prices.
Further, the increase in the cost of production and the subsequent reduction of aluminum production spiked the prices to an all-time high over a decade.
For the first time it did cross $4,000/t and settled at $3535/t, on the London Metal Exchange (LME) last week.
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