Today, January 13, an older deal for ex-Australia coking coal has surfaced in the market. Specifically, a 80,000 mt cargo of premium mid-volatility hard coking coal, Goonyella has been booked at $310/mt FOB, with the seller's option to replace it with Riverside Brand. The material is destined to be shipped with March 1-10 laycan. Though the price in the deal in question is $8/mt higher than the price in the previous deal, it is $40/mt below the levels targeted by the Australian coking coal suppliers lately. As the information about China's resumption of ex-Australia coking coal bookings has yet to be confirmed at the time of publication, any attempts by coking coal suppliers to gain support from these rumors are considered by SteelOrbis as speculative. “Nowadays, there are many fake rumours with regard to China's return to Aussie coal. All of them are for ulterior motives,” a Singapore-based trader stated.
Meanwhile, today, January 13, coking coal futures for February contracts have increased by $7/mt from yesterday to $304.33/mt, while coking coal futures for March contracts have edged higher by $6.33/mt to $302/mt.