Despite certain signs of changes in the mood of most global market insiders, steelmakers have remained highly cautious towards bookings of raw materials, in particular, of metallurgical coke. Pointing to high levels of inventories at ports, European customers have continued to push prices down decisively in negotiations. However, cokeries appear to have no intention of reducing their prices further. Accordingly, the market is waiting to see which side will gain the advantage.
Specifically, although prices for ex-Poland metallurgical coke (10-30 mm, 20-40 mm, 40-70 mm) have decreased by around €35-50/mt over the past month to €320-350/mt FCA Poland, trading has remained slow due to the mismatch between offers and bids. In particular, some clients are reported to be seeking to buy BF coke (10-30 mm) at €300-307/mt FOB Poland, which are considered by all suppliers to be absolutely unworkable levels. “Now it is a short game from the consumers. They are trying to gain support from stocks volumes at the warehouses of ports and factories. In addition, there was a market slowdown due to weak demand in China, in particular, due to the Lunar New Year holiday,” a European trader commented. Likewise, in India, suppliers of ex-Poland BF coke have decided to test the market with offers at $460-465/mt CFR, though they have failed to get any positive results. A deal is reported to have been signed at $415/mt CFR late last week. Meanwhile, lately, SteelOrbis has learned of a deal for 25,000-30,000 mt of ex-Indonesia BF coke (65/63% CSR, for mid-March loading, at $455/mt CFR India, compared to $430/mt CFR India levels in the previous deal done late early this week. This may mean that customers have started gradually to accept higher levels in their bookings.
€1 = $1.07