Having stocked up earlier, Indian steelmakers have remained cautious in new bookings of metallurgical coke. Although a few purchase tenders have been floated this week, buyers prefer to take their time to evaluate the current developments in the steel market, as well as offers voiced by main met coke suppliers, both in the domestic and import markets.
Meanwhile, global metallurgical coke suppliers are not in a hurry to adjust their offers to spur buying activity, expecting the positive sentiments in the steel market to provide them with some support. Accordingly, Indian producers of blast furnace (BF) coke (64% CSR, 25-90 mm) have continued to hold their official offers mostly at INR 40,000/mt ($492-514/mt) ex-works, though it is noteworthy that offers at INR 42,000/mt ($516/mt) ex-works have almost faded away. One way or another, tradable prices in rare deals have remained at much lower levels, closer to INR 38,000/mt ($467/mt) ex-works.
In the meantime, ex-Indonesia met coke is available at $400/mt CFR, while offers of ex-China (CSR 65/63%) met coke have been heard at $420/mt CFR, up $25-30/mt within the past week. Having succeeded in implementing two rounds of coke price rises in their domestic market, Chinese suppliers have decided to test higher offers in export destinations as well.