Coking coal imports to India fall by 17.9% M-o-M in Apr’15. 4 MnT Coking coal imported in Mar’15, dropped to 3.3 MnT last month and recorded a 6-month low mark.
SAIL imported 30% of the total quantity, followed by JSW Steel and Tata Steel. Australia, the largest Coking coal exporter to India, contributed 88% of the total. And, Mormugao port received 0.8 MnT, followed by Paradip port.
Imports came down because of the continuing congestion at Indian ports and delay in transporting the material from port to plant. Importers expressed that it makes no sense for them to place orders in huge quantities as of now, and bear high costs, though stocking prior to monsoon is at its peak.
While some of them indicated a price rise in the beginning of next month, supported by increase in demand, others were non optimistic. They mentioned that demand shall continue to remain low and restrict an uptrend in prices.
Prime Hard coking coal offers from Australian miners have fallen and are at USD 86/MT FOB Australia and at USD 82/MT FOB Australia for Hard coking coal. Semi-hard and Semi-soft coal offers (FOB Australia) are at USD 79/MT and USD 70/MT respectively.
In comparison to May 2014, Hard coking coal prices lose 19-23% this month. To add, Indian Rupee has depreciated to 64.2 against US Dollar, making imports of Coking coal expensive.
3.4 MnT Coking coal stock is recorded at various Indian ports presently. There has been no rise in import quantity in the past couple of weeks. Paradip port holds the highest quantity at 1,318,000 MT, followed by 850,000 MT at Gangavaram port.
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