Business Standard reported that imports of coking coal, a key fuel required for steelmaking, declined by 29.6 % to 2.71 million tonne in December, compared with 3.85 million tonne shipped in December 2013.
The imports also fell from 4.3 million tonne shipped in November. November shipments were higher as some deliveries ordered for the month of October were shifted to next month due to cyclone Hudhud.
Traders and experts said that the decline in shipments is a temporary phenomena and does not mean the imports will go down in future.
Mr Rakesh Dubey, editor of mjunction services ltd, which provides steel industry news and data, said that “There was a temporary decline in the last part of 2014. It does not reflect the trend we have seen for the entire year.”
In April-December period, the imports actually went up to 28.47 million tonne, up from 27.21 million tonne in the previous comparable period. The imports went up because of the price fall globally and has nothing to do with domestic demand.
Mr Ganesh Natrajan, chief executive officer of Ennore Coke, a coke manufacturing firm, said that “The prices of coking coal are trading around USD 125 per tonne at Indian ports. The rates remained the same throughout 2014 and are likely to remain around same level for at least next two quarter. Indian importers are comfortable at these rates.”
Coking coal rates have slipped from USD 145 level since 2013 due to weak demand from China, Japan and South Korea, the major buyers, amid rising supplies from the North America and Australia.
Source:coal.steelguru.com
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