Australian Coking Coal: Prices diverge amid hopes of market stability despite bearish outlook
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Australian premium low-volatile hard coking coal prices had seen a slight recovery in the past week amid signs of market stabilization, although the medium volatile hard coking coal prices have continued to fall straight down.
China-delivered prices have also moved lower throughout the week, notwithstanding new bids floated in the Chinese market.
Indian sellers anticipate seeing conclusion of trades in the coming week, as a modest return of some buying interest has been observed lately -- possibly due to competitive seaborne prices.
China: Market Overview
In China, fresh seaborne trades of Australian premium hard low-volatile coking coal were done at lower level, as steelmakers considered restocking in order to take advantage of competitive pricing compared to domestic coals.
The spot market has therefore been active lately with Chinese end-users buying the cheaper seaborne material.
In the meantime, however, Chinese traders have been adopting a cautious approach, in light of the ongoing restrictions imposed at several major seaborne coal handling ports, including China's main coking coal import port of Jingtang located in the northeastern Hebei Province.
Chinese officials had reportedly begun restricting customs clearance declarations to only local end users from the past two weeks -- and overseas trading entities have thus effectively been debarred from unloading their imported coal cargoes at the ports of Jingtang and Caofeidian.
India: Current Market Scenario
Indian end-users are very cautious at the moment even as the seaborne price levels are certainly attractive for buying spot cargoes. Sources claim that most steel mills are well covered until the end of monsoon, and seem to wait for prices to come down further and possibly hit rock bottom later in August.
PRICE ASSESSMENTS
Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around USD 160.00/MT FOB Australia, lower by USD 4.90/MT than the average rate of USD 164.90/MT prevailing in the week gone by (29 Jul - 2 Aug'19).
Offers for the 64 Mid Vol HCC grade are assessed at around USD 146.00/MT FOB Australia.
For Indian buyers, the above offers amount to USD 173.70/MT and USD 159.70/MT respectively on CNF India basis.
Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) & Semi Soft Coking Coal
| FOB Australia | CNF China | CNF India | |
| Low Vol PCI | 104.00 | 117.00 | 117.70 |
| Mid Tier PCI | 102.00 | 115.00 | 115.70 |
| Semi Soft | 90.00 | 103.00 | 103.70 |
N.B.: All prices are in USD/MT
