India's largest coal handling agency - Mjunction

More documents

Recommendations

Info

coal market fundamentals Steady demand pushes up thermal coal Arnab Mallick The global thermal coal market is back on fire once again with benchmark price showing significant rise over last few weeks, primarily on back of robust demand. Coal shipments from Australia’s Newcastle port has been witnessing steady w-o-w growth over the last few weeks. There has been continuing steady demand from China and India. At the same time, demand has picked up significantly in other Asian markets as well, including Japan. It has been learnt that Japan’s power generation by its 10 main utilities have gone up significantly, as heat wave continues thereby supporting air conditioning demand. Although most of the power generation is fuelled by crude oil, it has also resulted in significant rise in thermal coal consumption as well. Much of the improvement seen over the past few weeks can be attributed to the growing demand for thermal coal from both India and China. Besides, buying interest from China for the fourth-quarter was also increasing, ahead of the winter months. But though the utilities are planning to increase stocks for winter, they are in no hurry as current stocks are still high. According to the globalCOAL NEWC index, the benchmark price index for the Asian market, thermal coal prices improved to $99.03 per ton for the week ended October 22 as compared to $94.89 per ton for the week ended September 24. The price appreciation has been even sharper in the South African market, thanks to fundamental improvement in market sentiment. According to globalCOAL RB index for South African coal, price of thermal coal improved to $93.96 per ton for the week ended October 22, as compared to $84.14 per ton for the week ended September 24. The rising demand sentiment has been quite evident from the steady export figures from the Nescastle port. As per latest data, coal exports at Australia's Newcastle port, the world's largest coal export terminal, rose 27 percent in the week ended October 18 as compared to its previous week. According to data available with port authority, total exports from the port, which ships mostly thermal coal used in power plants, were 2.4 million tons (mt) in the week to October 18, climbing from 1.9 mt the previous week. 110 105 100 95 90 globalCOAL NEWC Index 85 15- 29- 12- 26- 12- 26- 9- 23- 7- 21- 4- 18- 2- 16- 30- 13- 27- 10- 24- 8- 22- Jan Jan Feb Feb Mar Mar Apr Apr May May Jun Jun Jul Jul Jul Aug Aug Sep Sep Oct Oct globalCOAL RB Index 98 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 80 15- 29- 12- 26- 12- 26- 9- 23- 7- 21- 4- 18- 2- 16- 30- 13- 27- 10- 24- 8- 22- Jan Jan Feb Feb Mar Mar Apr Apr May May Jun Jun Jul Jul Jul Aug Aug Sep Sep Oct Oct Week ended Meanwhile, the vessel queue at the port fell slightly to 12 ships from 13, but the average waiting time for vessels at the port increased slightly to 13.92 days from previous week’s comparable level of 13.78 days. It is worth noting at this juncture that a similar price trend has also been observed in Indonesia, the latest exporter of thermal coal after Australia. As per available information, the reference price for coal sales in Indonesia has also climbed in October for the first time since June. As per market sources, the price of coal with a gross energy value of 6322 kilocalories a kg gained 3 percent to $92.68 per ton this month compared with September when reference price was $90.05 per ton. Sources said that the Directorate General of Coal, Minerals and Geothermal at the energy ministry has made a similar statement. Brands including Gunung Bayan 1 has been commanding highest price of around $99.79 per ton as compared to previous month’s level of $96.94 per ton followed by Prima Coal and Pinang 6150 at $97.55 per ton and $87.92 per ton respectively. In the meantime, it has also been learnt that prices are being settled for contracts between Australian shippers and Japanese utilities for the year from October. Prices are being set at $97 to $98 per ton, the same as the larger volume contracts which took effect from April 2010. Media reports quoting a Citibank report noted that domestic prices in China are more stable, however, were at around $112 per ton for 6000 kilocalorie fob Qinhuangdao and the arbitrage has closed as a consequence at the end of September. China's imports for August were a robust 13.3 mt. Citi Group said that: “Our already positive view on the thermal coal market was reaffirmed by our recent work on the true competitive position of Australian exports vs China’s production. We expect the price to average $100 per ton in 2011, and our long term price is $90 per ton.” However, demand for thermal coal from India is likely to rise further in the coming days as the country would have to meet its own commercial and industrial demand. The country’s coal imports have been growing rapidly over the past few years and if its power production targets are to be met, then it would have to continue to do so even this year. COAL INSIGHTS 22 October 2010
coal market fundamentals Coking coal contract price drops for Q3 Arnab Mallick Contract negotiations for various categories of coking coal were finally completed among leading miners and steel makers. It was felt during the end of September that negotiations for the third quarter had been partially settled with BF steel producers. As per available information, a number of BF steel producers fixed the semi-soft coking coal prices loaded at Newcastle with several Australian suppliers at $138 per ton fob to $140 per ton fob for the third quarter. Since the price in the second quarter was set at $172 per ton fob, the prices for the third quarter have been reduced by $32 to $34 (18.6 to 19.8 percent) from the previous quarter. At this stage, however, negotiations with the two largest suppliers of semi-soft coking coal loaded at Newcastle, Xstrata and Rio Tinto had not yet been settled. In contrast, the negotiations with the two largest suppliers of semi-soft coking coal, Xstrata and Rio Tinto, took longer and the agreement on semi-soft coking coal exported by these suppliers could not be reached within September. That was because both suppliers strongly opposed the large price reduction. However, it finally got settled in the middle of October. Rio Tinto Coal has settled semi-soft coking coal prices for October- December at $143 per ton fob with its Japanese customers, a drop of almost 17 percent from the $172 per ton achieved in the third quarter, said informed sources. The price won by Rio betters the $138-140 per ton fob Newcastle port that was achieved by smaller semi-soft coking coal producers in NSW’s Hunter Valley at the end of September. On October 1, Wesfarmers Ltd of Australia announced that its contract prices of metallurgical coals (hard coking coal, semi-hard coking coal and PCI coal) produced at Curragh coal mine under its own operation fell by an average 11 percent for the contract period between October-December 2010 as compared with those for the previous quarter (July- September). Out of that the contract price of Curragh hard coking coal during October-December remained $205 per ton fob, down $20 (8.9 percent) from the previous quarter. It is to be noted here that hard coking coal negotiations between the BF steel producers and BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) ended in agreement on August 30. The prices of main brands of hard coking coal exported by BMA in the third quarter became $209 per ton fob each for Peak Downs and Saraji coal, $205 per ton fob each for Goonyella coal and Riverside coal, $195 per ton fob for Norwich Park coal and $190 per ton fob for Gregory coal with price reduction of $16 to $20 COAL INSIGHTS 23 October 2010
Page 3 and 4: Chief Editor Rakesh Dubey, Tel: +91
Page 5 and 6: India’s largest coal handling age
Page 8: Cover Story INDUSTRIAL GROWTH INDIC
Page 12: Cover Story India, China lead globa
Page 16: Cover Story Beml plans to double tu
Page 20: Cover Story complete longwall minin
Page 25 and 26: Feature Competitive bidding: Will i
Page 27 and 28: Feature allotment of captive coal b
Page 29 and 30: Feature Coal ministry puts illegal
Page 31 and 32: Feature Coke shortage may hamper st
Page 33 and 34: Feature How coke making evolved Tho
Page 35 and 36: Feature Cement makers to hike price
Page 37 and 38: Feature increased imports, which is
Page 39 and 40: Feature Forestry clearance delays m
Page 41 and 42: Feature embarked on a massive affor
Page 43 and 44: Feature India misses Sept power gen
Page 45: government Coal ministry firm on pr
Page 49 and 50: INTERNATIONAL Forum seeks Canada-In
Page 51 and 52: INTERNATIONAL UAE 269,462 331,688 1
Page 53 and 54: INTERNATIONAL EIA raises 2010 US co
Page 55 and 56: Expert Speak Heat recovery chinese
Page 57 and 58: Expert Speak Refractory lining work
Page 59 and 60: Expert Speak and in a hard copy for
Page 61 and 62: CORPORATE We have already commissio
Page 63 and 64: CORPORATE Cil in top league after i
Page 65 and 66: CORPORATE Banks not tapped for capt
Page 67 and 68: Logistics down rates and increased
Page 69 and 70: Power sector update PROGRAMME AND P
Page 71 and 72:
Power sector update CAPACITY ADDITI
Page 73 and 74:
Power sector update Northern WESTER
Page 76:
SnapShot Chile mine rescue - a marv
Page 80:
Snap Shot It was finalised that the
Page 84:
E-Auction data Month Details of e-A
Page 88 and 89:
All India coal data - August 2010 N
Page 90:
port DATA Major Ports Through Which
show all

India's largest coal handling agency - Mjunction

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?