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RIL hikes pet coke prices Rs 150/t for Apr loading

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has raised the price of pet coke for the third continuous month for April loading and this time by Rs 150 per ton amidst fair demand for the material and firmness in prices of the imported material, industries sources said.

On March 31, ICMW had reported, quoting industry sources, Indian refiners may increase pet coke prices for the third month running for loading in April by Rs 100-200 per ton in view of the firmness in the prices of the imported material during the past few days.

“There has been surge in prices of pet coke from both 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 the prices,” ICMW had reported, quoting industry sources.

Lower inventories in view of fair demand also prompted the company to increase prices for April loading, they said, adding the inventory with RIL was estimated at a low of 40,000-50,000 tons while that with Essar was estimated at about 20,000-25,000 tons.

“The inventories were sufficient for 2-3 days loading and can be described as very nominal,” they added.

Earlier, RIL’s inventory stood at around 120,000-140,000 tons as in end-January from a high of around 170,000-180,000 tons at the beginning of the month.

Following the increase, RIL’s price of pet coke for bulk consumers for loading in April stands at Rs 2,950 per ton (ex-refinery) and that for retail consumers at Rs 4,150 per ton, sources said.
 

The company had increased prices by Rs 300 per ton for loading in February and by Rs 200 per ton for loading in March.

Earlier, the company had cut prices by Rs 200 per ton for loading in January to Rs 2,300 per ton (bulk) and Rs 3,500 per ton for retail.

RIL, which fixes pet coke prices on the first working day of each month, had decided to keep prices unchanged at Rs 3,700 per ton in December.

In November 2015, the company had initially cut pet coke prices (retail) by Rs 800 per ton to Rs 4,400 per ton and again on November 25 by Rs 700 per ton to Rs 3,700 per ton to retain its customers in view of the sharp fall in international markets.

While the decline in domestic pet coke prices was on account of a sharp fall in the imported material’s rates, the decline in the prices of the latter was prompted by availability of additional material in the world market amidst fall in demand from China and setting up of fresh capacity in Saudi Arabia, sources said.

With China out of the market and extra material coming up from Saudi Arabia, there was excess supply in the world market that prompted Indian refiners to cut prices to retain their domestic customer base.

Following table gives monthly retail prices of RIL for loading in respective months, starting May 2015: