COKING COAL DAILY: Premium hard coking coal fob price jumps on latest trade

Premium hard coking coal fob prices jumped on the latest trade on Friday September 3, indicating a promising outlook for the fob market. And the low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) price in the cfr market soared due to tight supply from Russia, sources said.

Fastmarkets indices
Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $441.97 per tonne, down by $1.05 per tonne

Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $403.50 per tonne, down by $0.35 per tonne

Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $270.32 per tonne, up by $8.21 per tonne

Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $226.89 per tonne, up by $1.50 per tonne

Fastmarkets Weekly PCI indices
PCI low-vol, cfr Jingtang: $ 240.02 per tonne, up by $21.53 per tonne

PCI low-vol, fob DBCT: $204.86 per tonne, up by $4.56 per tonne

A 75,000-tonne cargo of premium low-volatility hard coking coal, with November 1-15 laycan, was traded at $270 per tonne fob Australia late on Thursday, with an option to replace it with another brand of premium low-volatility hard coking coal at $269 per tonne fob Australia, Fastmarkets learned on Friday.

Market participants in the fob market increased their estimates for the tradeable price level of premium hard coking coal for October-laycan cargoes.

“Tight supply from major miners and good demand both contributed to the strong prices,” a trading source in Singapore said.

In the cfr market, premium hard coking coal and hard coking coal prices decreased slightly due to a lack of trading in the spot market.

Fastmarkets’ weekly index for PCI low-vol, cfr Jingtang soared to $240.02 per tonne on Friday.

“The supply of Russian low-volatility PCI in the spot market is tight, so offer prices hiked,” a trading source in Beijing said.

A second trading source in Beijing said the Russian company Mechel was holding an auction to sell their coking coal and PCI to Chinese buyers late in the week to September 3. By the time of writing, no result had been heard.

In the Chinese domestic coke market, some steel mills in Shandong province accepted the ninth round of coke price hikes since the start of August. The price was increased by 200 yuan ($31) per tonne, which had been proposed by coke producers there. The price increase is effective as of September 3, sources said.

Dalian Commodity Exchange
The most-traded January coking coal futures contract closed at 2,615 yuan ($404.79) per tonne on Friday, down by 54 yuan per tonne.

The most-traded January coke contract closed at 3,336.50 yuan per tonne, down by 22.50 yuan per tonne.

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