Indian met coke prices stable w-o-w; may rise in near term

Indian met coke prices remained unchanged at INR 33,000-34,000/t ex Jajpur last week. Coke prices remained stable amid low buying activity in the market.

As per market participants, a deal was heard concluded at INR 33,500/t during the week. Amid rising coking coal prices, Indian end-users were heard enquiring about seaborne coke. Demand for BF coke inched up, with a few mills enquiring about Indonesian-origin coke. Buying interest ranged from $310-320/t.

India's met coke imports in July dropped to 0.23 million tonnes (mnt), as per CoalMint data. Imports dropped sharply by nearly 56% m-o-m compared to 0.52 mnt in June. In fact, imports dropped to monthly average levels in July after the sharp hike in June.

Coking coal offers

Australian premium hard coking coal (PHCC) prices increased to $268/t yesterday as against $249/t FOB last week amid limited availability. It is anticipated that prices will edge down in the near term as buyers have already lowered their bids, leading to wide bid-offer disparity. According to market participants, the transacted levels are not feasible for steel industries.

Imported coke prices

Buying interest softened ahead of talks regarding the first round of price cut for met coke in China. Effective prices of met coke in Hebei's Tangshan were assessed at RMB 2,060 ($282/t). Chinese met coke prices are at $323/t CNF Hazira.

Pig iron market

Indian pig iron prices have edged up w-o-w to INR 41,500/t yesterday as against INR 41,000/t last week. Prices have increased INR 500/t w-o-w but remained largely stable d-o-d.

Outlook

Met coke prices may change in the near term amid rising coal prices. This may lead to direct procurement of met coke by end-users from international markets. However, with end-users using a blend of domestic and imported coke, domestic prices may also rise in the near term.