Prices for ex-Australia premium hard coking coal (PHCC) have increased slightly in the latest deal, but most market sources do not believe this is a sign that prices will move up further from now on. Sentiment is still rather stable and market sources are waiting for a real demand improvement in India or in other countries before changing the outlook and price assessments.
A contract for 75,000 mt of low-volatile Peak Downs PHCC was signed at $191.75/mt FOB for November laycan in the middle of this week. This is up from the previous assessment for PHCC at $190.2/mt CFR and last week's deal at $191.1/mt FOB done for mid-volatile material, which is at least $2-3/mt more expensive lately. Market sources believe that this cargo will be for the Far East market, but in general the improvement in demand from this outlet is not so strong and cannot be considered to be a fundamental change. Also, Chinese buyers, coming back after the long holiday, are still assessing the tradable level for low-volatile PHCC at $195/mt CFR at the highest.
At the same time, the mood in the Indian market has seen some improvement and market sources expect that buyers will accept $205-207/mt CFR in deals later this month, while earlier their targets were at $201-202/mt CFR.
