Coal news and updates

RIL keeps pet coke prices unchanged for Apr loading

April 14: After reducing the price by Rs 300 per ton in the previous month, Reliance Industries (RIL), India’s largest pet coke producer, has not changed prices of pet coke for bulk customers for loading in April, industry sources said.

The company had cut prices for March loading by Rs 300 per ton and that for February loading by Rs 100 per ton, tracking international trends, sources said.

The price for April loading remains unchanged at Rs 5,750 per ton ex-refinery, down from Rs 6,050 per ton for February loading.

ICMW had inadvertently reported on February 5 that the basic price for February loading was Rs 6,250 whereas the correct price was Rs 6,050 per ton.

RIL had kept unchanged the price of its pet coke for loading in January 2015 at December 2014 levels of Rs 6,050 per ton.

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

The reduction in price for February loading was along expected lines and largely attributed to softness in international prices, coupled with average domestic demand.

The refiner had sharply reduced prices for March loading after reports started sneaking in that Indian cement-makers are getting offers from Saudi Arabian refineries at about $74 per ton CFR India. But, later on, Saudi refiners started selling the material to Indian cement-makers at $66-68 per ton.

In addition, with China virtually out of the market, US Gulf material is also available at lower rates, they said.

“The status quo in prices by RIL was along expected lines considering the fact that it had already cut prices in the previous two months,” an official from a cement company said.

“Overall, the demand and supply situation with regard to pet coke in India remained unchanged and in order to better serve its customers, RIL resorted to cut prices, both for February and March loadings,” said another source.

The company had started reducing prices in June as it implemented a reduction of Rs 100 per ton per month in July, August and September.

The ex-refinery price for bulk buyers for loading in December was fixed at Rs 6,150 per ton as compared to Rs 6,250 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 2014.

Though information from other refiners like Essar, HPCL and BORL which generally follow RIL in fixing their pet coke price is not available at present, they are also likely to follow the leader so far as fixing March 2015 loading prices is concerned, sources feel.

The current price of imported pet coke is $66-70 per ton CFR India as compared to $76-78 per ton CFR India at the beginning of February 2015 and down by nearly $26 per ton from December levels of $92-93. The price of imported pet coke in June 2014 was quoted at $98 per ton CFR.