India: Imported met coke trades pick up ahead of price hike
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- Indian mills book imported met coke cargoes
- Chinese producers eye second round of price hike
The imported met coke market witnessed active trades towards end of last week. Indian mills were heard to have closed two deals of 40,000t each from Indonesia. One was for October laycan and another for November at about $245/t FOB, sources informed BigMint.
Offers have risen this week. Fresh ones were heard at levels of $235/t FOB China this week as against $225/t assessed last week. And offers from Indonesia were heard at $240-245/t FoB.
Indian met coke producers informed: "Indian met coke inventories have piled up at the eastern ports and prices have bottomed out. We expect prices to pick up from these levels onwards."
Factors leading to price hike
Chinese producers announce 2nd round of price hike: Some met coke players in Shanxi initiated their second round of price hike due to continuous losses and recent hike seen in coking coal prices. Prices of wet quenched met coke are expected to rise by RMB 50/t ($7) and the dry quenched variant by RMB 55/t.
In China, several steel mills in Tangshan have agreed to a second round of coke price increases, ranging from RMB 50-55/mt, effective from 26 September. However, full implementation is pending approval from major mills in the Hebei and Shandong provinces.
The first round of met coke price hike was accepted on 20 September. Mills in Hebei and Tianjin in north China had raised by RMB 50-55/t ($7-7.7/t).
Low met coke production in Indonesia: Indonesian production is falling. Most cokeries in Indonesia have reduced output due to low prices. This has led buyers to increase import bookings of Indonesian coke.
Outlook
Imported met coke prices have risen, with expectations of further increases in the coming days due to reduced production in Indonesia. Additionally, price hikes by Chinese met coke producers have prompted Indian mills to make aggressive pre-bookings to guard against even higher prices in the near future.