Indian met coke prices have picked up in the current week by INR 2,000/t. Current offers for blast furnace grade met coke (25-90mm) are heard at INR 43,000/t ex-Jajpur.
Offers picked up amid the surge in coking coal prices that have gone up to $366/t, FOB Haypoint, Australia — assessed yesterday as against $347/t FOB Haypoint, Australia towards end-Febuary. Coking coal prices have surged with improving trade relations between China and Australia.
“Chinese met coke prices of around $433/t CNF Hazira would be viable for steelmaking compared to the current domestic offers. Chinese coke prices are competitive compared to domestic. Hence, steel mills would prefer more of imports than domestic,” a source said.
However, China’s met coke producers are planning to cut production by 30% to push prices up. Previously, the coke manufacturers’ price hike proposal got a mixed response from the steel mills as they were struggling with lower profit margins. As on 10 March, 2023, met coke prices in Hebei’s Tangshan stand at RMB 2,700/t, unchanged for almost the last two months.
As per some sources, Indian mills had delayed a few previous months’ met coke orders amid high prices and were adopting a wait-and-watch approach. However, now they have to buy to fulfil production needs.
The Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers Association (IMCOM) stated the need to protect the domestic industry as India is becoming a dumping ground for imported met coke. They have sought a 30% anti-dumping duty on met coke to protect domestic manufacturers from cheaper imports. The merchant coke capacity in Indian market is about 7 mnt. However, the current capacity utilization is only 30% amid oversupply in India.
China is ready to receive coal imports from Australia, with several shipments having arrived or been routed to the nation. It is a strong indication that the two countries are gradually resuming coal trades after more than two years of stalemate. Market sources earlier shared that a number of Chinese traders were working on coal imports from Australia.
Australia used to be China’s top coking coal supplier with roughly 2-3 mnt of shipments a month. It was also a key thermal coal supplier, second only to Indonesia in terms of volumes. In 2019, the year before China’s unofficial ban was introduced, the nation imported 76.96 mnt of coal from Australia, Chinese customs data show.
India steel scenario
India’s finished steel production stood at 9.87 mnt in February. Production dropped by 8% m-o-m as against 10.93 mnt in January. Nevertheless, production inched up by 3% y-o-y compared to 9.59 mnt in the preceding year.
Finished steel production rose by 6% y-o-y to 109.352 mnt during April-February as against 102.999 mnt in the same period last year.
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