Indian steel companies show trends of increasing coking coal
imports as better supplies have helped ease prices. The steel makers want to
sign contracts quickly at prevailing rates, expecting future price surge, said
analysts and traders.
Australian Hard Coking Coal prices at present hover around
$226/MT which was around $220-223/MT a week ago. The rise in prices could be because
of improved bookings from major Steel giants from India.
According to reports, near about 9-10 vessels carrying 20,000-40,000
MT of Coking Coal are reported to be berthed each in Vizag & Haldia in the
next 10-15 days. And the receivers of these vessels mostly include big names
like SAIL & Tata Steel.
During April and May, Indian ports received coking coal cargo
of about 4.8 million tone i.e. 15% lower than 5.7 milion tonne imported in the
previous comparable period. However, sources said, the imports went up in May
from April, soon after the international prices slipped.
“Our April import was 37,000 tonne but in May we imported
97,000 tonne coking coal for Bokaro and Rourkela plant,” said Laxman Bhujbal,
deputy manager (imports) of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), based at
Paradip.
Similarly, Nilachal Ispat, which had ordered one vessel of
coking coal in April, bought two vessels of Australian coking coal in May,
company sources said.
As per the reports, Companies such as NTPC and SAIL have
already hinted about increasing their coking coal imports by around 15 % this
year. Besides Australia, they are also eying South African mines to meet their
requirement.
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