The Indian market for seaborne metallurgical coke remained stable as buyers continued to hold back buying amidst relatively softer domestic met coke prices and ample availability.
Moreover, most end-users have slowed down their restocking activities amidst escalating uncertainties because of the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in India.
CoalMint currently assesses the spot price for the 64% CSR grade blast furnace met coke at $422/tonne (t) CNF India, up by $2/t on a week-on-week (w-o-w) basis.
The 62% CSR grade BF met coke is currently assessed at $380.00/t CNF India – also up by $2/t w-o-w.
Prices for India’s domestically produced met coke of 25-90 mm blast furnace grade are currently assessed at INR 27,500/t-28,500/t along the country’s east and west coasts respectively.
Some merchant met coke producers are planning to increase their offers for upcoming inquiries, given that steel, iron ore and pig iron prices are presently going up.
Further, India-based coal traders and producers have been actively looking at export options for better price realisations compared to domestic sales.
A total quantity of 160,850 tonnes of metallurgical coke has been exported till April this year to countries such as Vietnam, Brazil, Romania, Indonesia and Oman. Market participants strongly anticipate this trend to continue for the next 6-7 months at least.
Seaborne coking coal prices spike on improved demand in ex-China markets
Export prices for Australian premium hard coking coal surged by $19.5/t w-o-w to $141/t FOB as Asian customers were actively seeking prompt loading cargoes amidst a steel demand recovery. Furthermore, European contract buyers of US and Canadian coking coals are heard to be procuring low-priced Australian material instead.
Meanwhile, the major ex-Australian coking coal supplying nations – such as Russia, Canada and the United States – are largely exporting to China as it is the best destination in terms of prices now.
Simultaneously, however, market sentiment in China has turned bearish following the steel price slump, prompted by the firm intention of the Chinese government to prevent further price rise.
As a consequence, coking coal futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) dropped by RMB 221/t ($34.4/t)since last Friday, 21 May’21. However, domestic coking coal prices are still high because steel mills are facing acute shortage.
Chinese domestic metallurgical coke prices are also increasing frequently as domestic demand is outstripping supply. Hence, most traders are unwilling to export coke because of higher domestic demand, while some of them could not even secure cargoes from coke plants.
The currently evolving global sentiment could have an impact on international met coke prices. But, on the whole, Asia-bound met coke prices are likely to stay at elevated levels in view of the supply tightness resulting from China’s absence from the export market.
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