High prices of Petcoke—both in India and in the key international markets—have moderated the buying spree in the domestic market of India. Petcoke users in the country are waiting for the prices to come down.
Given the imminent supply situation, the speculation of the buyers in the country is likely to materialize as the export supply from the two international markets, USA and Saudi Arabia, will resume from Nov’17. With the resumption of the exports, supply will increase, which could pull the prices down.
Petcoke export supplies from USA and Saudi Arabia have been nil since the last week of Aug’17, following the occurrence of the Harvey hurricane in Texas of USA. The hurricane left a trail of devastation behind, forcing the refineries there to temporarily suspend operations in the recovery process, thus cutting off export supply. With the onset of Nov’17, the exports will resume from both the key regions—USA and Saudi Arabia; as such, the prices are likely to drift downwards with the increasing availability.
The current international offers from both the key markets are remarkably high. For Nov’17 loading, the offers for Petcoke (9% Sulphur) from USA are quoted at around USD 110/MT CFR India; while the offers from Saudi Arabia are quoted at around USD 107/MT CFR India.
Source: CoalMint Research
In India, Petcoke purchases have moderated, as traders said. They attributed the moderation in the purchases to the prices being high, which incited the users to wait and postpone active buying until the prices undergo some downward correction. Besides, the domestic supply from the country’s refineries was uninterrupted, the traders said.
In the meantime, the Indian refineries have kept the ex-works prices at high rates, in response to the international supply disruption.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the largest Petcoke producer in India, has quoted its ex-works price at INR 8,100/MT, and Essar, the second largest producer has quoted its ex-works price at INR 8,090/MT.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has fixed its ex-works price at INR 6,360/MT.
Source: CoalMint Research
On the production front, Petcoke production in India in Sep’17 was up by 0.89% to 1,134 ‘000MT over the production of 1,124 ‘000MT in Aug’17. On a year-on-year comparison, the production in the month under review was higher by 5.88% against that of 1,071 ‘000MT in Sep’16.
Source: CoalMint Research
IMPORTS
Although there was no export supply from USA and Saudi Arabia during the mentioned period, some imports, which were booked before the occurrence of the hurricane incident, had landed at the Indian ports. During the 1-16 Oct’17 period, around 0.3 MnT of Petcoke had landed at the Indian ports, data compiled by CoalMint Research shows.
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