Indian domestic prices for blast furnace grade metallurgical coke have surged in recent weeks after having remained steady until a few weeks earlier, amid buyers’ concerns on limited availability.
India’s domestically produced met coke prices (ex-plant) for the 25-90 mm, blast furnace grade are currently assessed at around INR 27,000/t (east coast) and INR 27,500/t (west coast).
Strong met coke prices drive off Indian importers toward regional purchases—
On the global front, the strength seen in China’s domestic coke industry and tight supply in the region have continued to support Asian coke prices. Meanwhile, optimizations of blast furnaces and improved operational rates have led to stronger demand for coke in Asia.
The global supply tightness combined with steady restocking demand from Chinese end-users have boosted imported met coke prices to higher-than-expected levels and pushed Indian end-users towards increasing their domestic procurement from local suppliers.
In India, several met coke buyers have been remaining on the sidelines, instead of competing for seaborne spot tonnages as only high-priced options were available in the spot market.
CoalMint currently assesses the spot blast furnace met coke price for the 64% CSR grade at $373/t CNF India, up 7.5% month-on-month compared with $347/t as on 7th Dec’20.
The 62% CSR grade BF metcoke is currently assessed at $365/t CNF India — up by almost 8% as against $338/t on 7th Dec’20.
Coking coal import prices remain moderate amid ample supply—
Australia-originated seaborne coking coal prices have remained range bound this week amid thin trading activities in the Asian spot market outside China. Indian buying interest for imported coking coal is presently limited despite ample material availability at competitive price levels.
Nevertheless, low coking coal prices are helping mitigate higher iron ore costs, with blast furnaces using met coke as the main reductant energy.
Latest prices for the Premium HCC and the 64 Mid Vol HCC grades are assessed at around $116/t and $107/t on CNF India basis.
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By Aditya Sinha
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