Platts maintained its hard coking coal spot assessments in line with Tuesday, despite increasing short-term downward pressure from the absence of firm demand in India as well as China. Platts HCC mid-vol price remained at $197/mt FOB Queensland.
Bids and offers for HCC remain around $5/mt apart, with offers close to $215/mt FOB and bids at a maximum of $210/mt FOB for a specific grade of mid-vol yet premium HCC.
While Chinese appetite for imported HCC has been visibly weaker since the central government imposed steel production curbs earlier this month, miners have at least been able to sell HCC into India. But this trend looks as if it could be under threat.
The likely buyers of spot HCC in India--traders and coke makers--now say that little demand can be found on either coast. "Because of the monsoon, most coke plants were underproducing and have little need for new CC purchases," a senior coke-making source said Wednesday. "Even the resale market [at Indian ports] is not active. People are well supplied on the east coast [of India] also," a trader added.
In China, demand was no stronger, with one large mill saying they had not imported HCC recently. The mill source also said that he believed the coking coal import market was currently weaker in China because of the government's policy of limiting steel production.
High CSR low-vol premium HCC has recently been offered to this steelmaker at $230-235/mt CFR, but most mills' indicative buying interest has lowered to $225-230/mt.
But while short-term demand from end-users may not be buoyant, several traders said that now may be a good time to take positions for late autumn and winter re-sales. "It's a good time to take positions as the market should rise in Q4," an east Indian source said, echoing a commonly held view.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
