Coal news and updates

RIL keeps pet coke price for January loading unchanged

January 7: The beginning of 2015 appears to have augured well for Indian pet coke consumers as Reliance Industries Ltd has decided not to change the price of its material for loading in January 2015.

According to industry sources, RIL has kept unchanged the price of its pet coke for loading in January at the December 2014 level of Rs 6,350 per ton.

In December, the company had reduced the price by Rs 100 per ton compared to November.

“The company should have reduced the prices of domestic pet coke considering the softness in international pet coke prices, which was traded at about $87 per ton CIF India towards end of December,” an official from a cement company said.

It was expected that RIL would further reduce the price for January loading because of softness in international markets and an expectation of increase in supplies from Saudi Arabia and also softness in freight rates.

The company had started reducing prices in June as it implemented a reduction of Rs 100 per ton in each month from July to September.

The ex-refinery price for bulk buyers for loading in December was fixed at Rs 6,350 per ton as compared to Rs 6,450 per ton each in November and October, Rs 6,350 per ton in September, Rs 6,450 per ton in August, Rs 6,550 per ton in July, Rs 6,650 per ton in June and Rs 6,750 per ton in May.

Though information from other refiners like Essar, HPCL and BORL who generally follow RIL in fixing their pet coke prices is not available at present, they are also likely to follow the leader so far as fixing their December 2014 loading prices is concerned, sources feel.

The increase in prices in October was largely due to anticipation of higher demand from cement-makers who expected higher demand for cement post-monsoons and also because of a slight firmness to the extent of $1-3 per ton in imported pet coke prices, they said.

However, the current economic situation in India does not provide indication of a betterment in the demand-supply situation from the main pet coke consuming sector, an official from a leading cement company said.

The current price of imported pet coke is $85-87 per ton CFR India, down by $5 per ton from December levels of $92-93 and down from $98.00 per ton in June. The price at the end of August 2014 was quoted at $92-93 per ton CFR.