A new sale for 75,000 mt of ex-Australia premium hard coking coal (PHCC) has been reported this week. In particular, the most popular mid-volatile PHCC Goonyella lot has been traded at $242.8/mt FOB, up by $11.8/mt from the previous sale done last month. This exceeded the expectations of market sources but, since there are expectations of constraints on supply in 2026, some market sources agree that it is time to purchase for June shipment. This deal was for laycan in mid-June.
There have been some inquiries from India and traders expect prices on FOB basis will remain around the $240/mt FOB mark in the near future.
On the supply side, Peabody Energy said in its quarterly report that commissioning and ramp-up at the Centurion coking coal mine have faced some issues, and this has led to a loss of around 1 million tons on annual basis. So, Centurion’s sales target for 2026 has been cut from 3.5 million mt to 2.5 million mt.
In addition, Australian hard coking coal (HCC) prices have been supported by the return of some demand from China, with deals heard at $202-203/mt CFR. No activity has been seen in the PHCC segment, but prices have increased indicatively by $3/mt to $220/mt CFR.
