India: Met coke import prices marginally up on modest buying

The Indian market for seaborne metallurgical coke has been lately observing a relatively moderate buying trend amidst a slightly higher offering level.

CoalMint currently assesses the spot price for the 64% CSR grade blast furnace met coke at $420/tonne (t) CNF India, up by $2/t on a week-on-week (w-o-w) basis.

The 62% CSR grade BF met coke is currently assessed at $378.00/t CNF India - up by $2/t w-o-w.

Indian domestic met coke prices dip amidst market uncertainty

Indian domestic prices for blast furnace grade metallurgical coke have been edging down as trading activities were relatively thin despite aggravated supply concerns amid rising Covid infections.

India's domestically produced met coke prices for the 25-90 millimeter-sized blast furnace grade are currently assessed at INR 26,500/t-27,500/t along the country's east and west coasts respectively.

Nevertheless, some Indian merchant met coke producers are planning to increase their offer prices for upcoming inquiries, given that steel, iron ore and pig iron prices are presently going up.

Furthermore, few coal traders and producers have been actively looking at export options for better price realizations compared to domestic sales.

A total quantity of 160,850 tonnes of metallurgical coke has been exported till April this year to countries such as Vietnam, Brazil, Romania, Indonesia and Oman. Market participants largely anticipate this norm to continue for the next 6-7 months at least.

Indian pre-monsoon demand for seaborne met coke could be lower amidst weaker market sentiment

Buyers in India typically stock up on steelmaking raw materials before the monsoon season between July and September.

This year, however, some end-users have slowed down their restocking activities because of the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in India.

Amidst escalating uncertainties in terms of transportation and production, coke plants may become cautious, and reduce their coking coal procurement from Australia and the United States among others.

Elsewhere in China, domestic metallurgical coke prices are rising quickly because steel margins are profitable and domestic demand is outstripping supply. Notably, major steel mills have accepted the eighth round of price uptick by CNY 120/t this week.

The latest price for domestic met coke with 12.5% ash in North China is assessed at CNY 2,700/t ($428.01/t), up CNY 200/t ($34.85/t) on the week.

Hence, most traders are unwilling to export coke because domestic coke prices are increasing frequently in the short term and some of them could not even secure cargoes from coke plants.