Indian domestic prices for blast furnace (BF) grade metallurgical coke have remained unchanged since last week on subdued trading amidst ongoing restrictions across several states.
Prices for the 25-90-mm BF grades are currently ranging between INR 27,000-29,000/t along the country’s east and west coasts respectively.
Meanwhile, India’s met coke import prices have also continued to remain mostly stable over the past week amidst acute tightness in global supply that has resulted from persistently high Chinese demand and record strong steel prices and margins in Europe.
CoalMint assessed the blast furnace (BF) grade met coke, with 64% coke strength after reaction (CSR), at $442/t CNF India, up by $2/tonne (t) (0.5%) on a w-o-w basis.
The 62% CSR BF grade met coke price also increased by $2/t (0.5%) w-o-w to $401.00/t CNF India.
Export deals prosper amidst stalled domestic sales growth
Indian coal traders and producers have been actively looking at export options for better price realizations compared to domestic sales.
A total quantity of 390,300 t of met coke had been exported this year to countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Romania and Oman. Market participants strongly anticipate that this trend would continue throughout the remainder of this year at least.
So far in 2021, India exported 88,000 t of met coke to Indonesia, 66,000 t to Brazil, 65,250 t to Vietnam, 60,500 t to Romania, and 22,000 t to Japan.
Besides, two cargoes of 33,000 t and 22,000 t of met coke, destined for Indonesia, sailed early this month from Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh and Paradip port in Odisha. Both of these were exported by leading East Indian merchant coke producers.
Outlook
Persistent supply tightness in both the domestic and import markets for high-quality, low-sulphur hard coking coal is likely to provide support to met coke prices in the near term.
Coke producers may turn cautious about procuring imported coking coal amidst continued uncertainties regarding seaborne and inland transportation due to labor shortage following the Covid-related restrictions.
Moreover, the country’s steel sector outlook appears bleak, given that the continuing pandemic has adversely affected demand for steel products.
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