After a Supreme Court order in October, the New Delhi government has banned its use of petcoke in the region around the capital of New Delhi. A June 30 proposal seeks to expand the New Delhi ban across the country while possibly still allowing petcoke to be used in the limestone and cement industries, since emissions are burned during these processes.
According to estimates, more than half of India’s petcoke demand of 27 million tonnes is imported, mostly from the United States. The country is also the world’s biggest consumer of petcoke, which is usually used as a fuel to make cement, lime, brick, glass, steel, and fertilizer, as well as other industrial applications.
Sources inform SteelOrbis that pet coke offers to India over the past over the past two months ranged from $108-115/mt CFR India from the US and $105-110/mt CFR India from other regions. For the second week in July offers are reportedly at $115-118/mt CFR India from the US and $5-6/mt below that range from other regions. The ban of the fuel in New Delhi and possible expansion through the country is expected to increase fuel costs to the steel industry which could result in higher steel prices.
Already, on the cost side, petcoke prices have gone up in the range of 25-30 per cent in the past one year in India, thereby increasing the overall fuel costs for all industrial players dependent on it use.