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Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $114.60 per tonne, up $0.11 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $125.50 per tonne, down $1.27 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $92.83 per tonne, up $0.33 per tonne Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $103.75 per tonne, up $0.25 per tonne
On the Globalcoal platform, an 80,000-tonne August-laycan cargo of Peak Downs was traded at $117 per tonne fob Australia on Friday July 3.
On July 2, a 75,000-tonne cargo of premium mid-volatility hard coking coal, with August 10-19 laycan, was traded at $110 per tonne fob Australia, sources told Fastmarkets today.
One steel mill source from China said he did not know why premium hard coking coal prices had increased recently.
“The acceptable price for premium low-vol hard coking coal is at around $125 per tonne cfr China and that for premium mid-vol hard coking coal is at $115 per tonne fob China for me. Import quotas for seaborne materials are limited so I’m being discreet about whether and when to buy them,” he explained.
A trader source from China explained the latest rise in premium hard coking coal prices: “The volumes [of premium hard coking coal] for July-laycan were relatively small. Besides, major steel mills from China need to procure such material regularly and the prices, compared with Chinese domestic ones, were still acceptable for them.”
Though the trader source believes that premium hard coking coal prices would sustain at current levels short term, he said the long-term outlook for premium hard coking coal prices was rather bleak.
The ex-factory price (tax included) of low sulfur coking coal produced in the Liulin area, Shanxi province stood at around 1,280 yuan ($181.12) per tonne, sources told Fastmarkets.
A trader source from India raised his estimate for premium mid-vol hard coking coal by $3 per tonne fob Australia given recent transaction prices and said seaborne coking coal prices would be steady for now.
“There is oversupply in the [seaborne] coking coal market, however, putting more pressure on the supply side,” he added.
Dalian Commodity Exchange The most-traded September coking coal contract closed at 1,192 yuan ($168.67) per tonne on Friday, down by 1 yuan per tonne.
The most-traded September coke futures contract closed at 1,871.50 yuan per tonne, down by 1 yuan per tonne.