Met Coke Global Offers Slide on Bearish Sentiments

Met Coke offers from the key international market are sinking as the sentiments in that market have turned bearish on account of the steel production cut about to be implemented in that country. As reported earlier, the Chinese government has ordered 50% steel production cut during the mid-Nov'17 to mid-Mar'18 in order to curb atmospheric pollution levels.

As the steel production will go down demand for Met Coke has declined in that country and the spot prices also have decreased. Market participants have speculated that the prices will undergo further downturn in the coming days.

According to the latest assessment, offers for the 64% CSR Met Coke were lower by around USD 16/MT, at around USD 326/MT FoB China, over the week-ago offers. Likewise, offers for the 62% CSR Met Coke also is assessed lower by around USD 16/MT, at around USD 316/MT FoB China, against the offers in the last week.

Source: CoalMint Research

For Indian buyers, these offers translate into: USD 341/MT and USD 331/MT respectively on CFR India basis.

In India, demand has temporarily softened as buyers were waiting for the prices to decline further, according to a few traders, contacted by CoalMint. As the offers are expected to move further down, the prices in the domestic market in the country also will decline to significant levels in the future.

However, the Indian Met Coke producers have not yet revised their prices, perhaps in the view of the prospect of strong buying to start in the near future; when they will be able to align their price levels to the market demand.

The prevailing ex-works prices for the Blast Furnace grade in the country are: INR 22,200/MT (east coast), and INR 27,000/MT and 30,000/MT (west coast).

Source: CoalMint Research

IMPORTS

There were no significant imports of Met Coke as buyers waited for the offers to decline. During the 1-30Oct'17 period, around 0.5 MnT of Met Coke was imported in India, data compiled by CoalMint Research shows.