Prices for ex-Australia premium hard coking coal (PHCC) have lost $46/mt over the past week as supply has been significantly higher than demand and bids have dropped below $300/mt FOB and the Indian market has been slow ahead of the holidays.
An offer at GlobalCoal for 40,000 mt of mid-volatile PHCC was at $307/mt FOB on Thursday, while offers in the spot market have fallen to $302-305/mt FOB on Friday. At the same time, bids for mid-volatile PHCC have been at $290-293/mt FOB, while bids for low-volatile material have been even lower, at $283/mt FOB. “The market is at $300/mt FOB already. ArcelorMittal is offering and traders are aiming to destock,” a Singapore-based source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price has lost $15/mt from the middle of the week to $300/mt FOB, down by $46/mt from last Friday. Market sources believe that slower demand from India due to Diwali will push ex-Australia coking coal prices down further next week.
In China, sentiment has been a bit stronger, though the tradable levels are still too low for Australian coal. The tradable level in the import PHCC market in China is at $285-290/mt CFR, up by $5-10/mt over the past week. Russian PCI was sold at the stable level of $158/mt CFR early in the week, with offers up to $160-165/mt CFR to China and up to $175/mt CFR to India.
