Coal news and updates

Indian refiners to hike pet coke prices for Apr loading

Indian refiners may increase pet coke prices for the third month running, by Rs 100-200 per ton, for loading in April in view of the firmness in prices of the imported material during the past few days, feel industry sources.

“There has been a surge in prices of pet coke from both the US Gulf Coast and Saudi Arabia. And this will prompt Indian refiners, who had cut prices sharply between November 2015 and January 2016, to raise their prices,” they said.

The basic price of pet coke for March loading for retail customers was Rs 4,000 per ton and that for bulk customers, Rs 2,800 per ton.

“It is a demand supply situation that will determine the prices of pet coke and naturally the refiners will take advantage of the same. They had sharply cut prices between November 2015 and January 2016 in view of excess availability and low demand, including that for the imported material,” they explained.

“In recent days, it has been found that the number of consumers using pet coke as feed stock has increased and that is driving demand for the product in the market. Now-a-days, even small power plants as well as a number of cement plants have started using pet coke. This was not the case earlier or at least till the previous financial year,” they added.