Asian seaborne hard coking coal spot market in holiday lull, India active

The Asian seaborne hard coking coal spot market was quiet on Monday June 2 with largest buyer China away for the Dragon Boat festival.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

The Dalian Commodity Exchange was also closed due to the public holiday in the country.

Steel First’s coking coal indices remained unchanged at $122.83 for premium hard coking coal sold on a cfr Jingtang basis, and $113.39 per tonne for hard coking coal.

The fob Australia numbers were also kept at $117.47 per tonne for premium hard coking coal and $103.20 per tonne for hard coking coal.

India, on the other hand, was heard to be more active after the recent general election.

“There’s been a lot of optimism as [new prime minister] Narendra Modi is generally seen as business and investment friendly. People expect the steel industry to pick up so they’re getting ready for the good days to come,” a trading source told Steel First.

The strengthening of the rupee post-election has also helped make imports more competitive, with customers looking to buy more than their term contracts in anticipation of the currency gaining further ground against the dollar, the source added.

Market participants speaking to Steel First considered Indian buyers would pay around $114-117 per tonne fob Australia for materials similar to Goonyella.

Japan was understood to be away from the spot market ahead of the quarterly settlement. A roll-over price of $120 per tonne fob Australia or slightly higher is generally expected for the third quarter benchmark, sources said.