Following a continuous rise of production costs, Indian producers of metallurgical coke have decided to increase their offer prices recently. Due to the availability of lower import offers in the country, the attractiveness of local material after the rise of price has significantly dwindled. Accordingly, since the beginning of August offers for blast furnace (BF) coke (64% CSR, 25-90 mm) in India have risen by INR 5,000/mt ($63/mt) to INR 45,000/mt ($564/mt) ex-works. In the meantime, coke (10-30 mm) has been reportedly offered at INR 40,000/mt ($501/mt) ex-works.
Meanwhile, ex-Australia coking coal prices have gained almost $100/mt within the same period, achieving $285-290/mt FOB Australia. Nevertheless, in the latest round of negotiations, the prices for ex-Australia coking coal have eased to $268/mt FOB Australia, though with no trading fixed at new level. “I doubt the sustainability of the uptrend. The balance between Chinese coke and Australian coal has to be maintained,” a representative of a major India-based steelmaker stated. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, ex-China export prices for 25-90 mm blast furnace (BF) grade coke (62/60% CSR) have increased to $410-420/mt FOB, up $5-15/mt from the middle of August, while ex-Colombia metallurgical coke 65% CSR is offered at $350-370/mt FOB. Given the current freight rate, the highest CFR price would be $450-465/mt CFR India, which is much more attractive to the local prices.
Meanwhile, local basic pig iron (BPI) has been available at INR 48,000-48,300/mt ($602-605/mt) ex-works, while the latest offers for ex-Russia BPI have been heard at $460-465/mt CFR and ex-Indonesia BPI has been available at $500/mt CFR. It is noteworthy that five percent import duty and a ten percent social welfare surcharge apply on non-alloy pig iron imports into India.
$1 = INR 79.78