Prices for ex-Australia premium hard coking coal (PHCC) have settled at $180/mt FOB in a new trade. But market sources are still generally negative, thinking that prices may slide a bit more as there is no demand improvement so far.
A deal for 75,000 mt of mid-volatile Goonyella PHCC was done at $180/mt FOB for October laycan early this week. This is just slightly below the reference price of $182/mt FOB late last week. Moreover, a similar volume of Goonyella C PHCC was on offer at $175/mt FOB, but for mid-September laycan.
A few traders agree that at the moment there are still a number of offers, mainly for October laycan, so prices may continue to slide, while the re-export activities seen previously are expected to continue. Also, some re-negotiations of some earlier signed contracts have already been reported by market sources, since over the past month prices on FOB basis have lost $30/mt.
Indian mills have been asking for $190/mt CFR at the highest for premium materials for October laycan, and some market sources believe that purchases may restart soon amid the expected improvement in steel demand in October when the monsoon season will come to an end.
In China’s import market, the tradable level for PHCC has been assessed at $193-195/mt CFR, versus $195-200/mt CFR late last week. Though this week steel futures prices have rebounded in China, the overall fundamentals are still weak and the buying of raw materials is limited.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Australia PHCC has come to $178/mt FOB, down by $4/mt from the previous day.
