Indian met coke prices fell on increased preference for imported coke

Indian met coke prices edged down to INR 34,500/t ex Jajpur as against INR 36,000/t assessed last week. The prices have dropped amid lower imported offers. The prices for the western part, however, remained stable at INR 36,000/t ex gandhidham. Market participants shared that coke manufacturers are operating at reduced capacity. Only some cookeries were heard to be working at capacities of about 40-50%.

It may be noted here that the total Indian met coke market is about 40 mnt, with merchant met coke market accounting for 3.5 mnt. Met coke imports for the month of May 2023 recorded at 0.23 mnt. India imported largest share of coke from Poland at 0.11 mnt followed by Colombia at 0.07 mnt.

Imported coke prices
Met coke prices in Hebei's Tangshan is assessed at RMB 1,860/t ($262/t), stable w-o-w. China's met coke prices witnessed at $300/t (INR 24,613) CNF India, stable w-o-w. In the Chinese market, mills in Shadong and Hebei provinces showed resistance to the proposed met coke price hike as proposed from merchant cookeries. The proposed hike may be seen after the Dragon boat festival holiday from 22- 24^th June. Indonesian import offers were assessed at about $310/t, (INR 25,433) CNF India.

Coking coal offers
Australian premium hard coking coal (PHCC) prices remained at $229/t in May, inching up by $3/t w-o-w. Trading activities continued to remain thin however, prices edged up on buying indications among end-users and traders. It was heard end-July laycan received buying interests.

Indian pig iron scenario

India's pig iron production in the month of May'23 has been recorded at 0.51 mnt, stable on monthly basis. India's pig iron prices have dropped this week. Pig iron prices have dropped to INR 41,300/t, yesterday as against INR 41,500/t assessed a day before. Prices have reduced from INR 42,500/t assessed a week ago.

Outlook

Indian met coke price is anticipated to reduce in near future on better import offers. However, with Chinese holidays approaching and expected price uptick may provide a push to Indian met coke prices in near term.