Russian PCI exports to India displace Australian supply

07-January-2019

Russian pulverised coal injection (PCI) exporters to India gained significant ground on their Australian PCI rivals in November as Indian steel producers favoured a growing supply of Russian mid-vol PCI.

In the metallurgical coke segment, Colombia overtook China as the top supplier to India in November as the South American country expanded coke oven capacity, according to data from e-commerce company Mjunction.

India imported 336,380t of PCI in November, down by 39.3pc from October. Imports from Australia fell by a larger margin of 59.5pc month on month to 183,647t, while imports from Russia surged by 50.1pc to 152,742t over the same period.

Russian PCI producers such as Kuzbassrazrezugol (Kru) and Mechel have increasingly shifted exports from Europe to Asia-Pacific as the country’s ambitious far east infrastructure plans came to fruition, bringing Russian PCI into closer competition with Australian supplies.

Russian PCI producers have also offered their volumes at or below prices for Australian PCI to gain market share. Russian mid-vol PCI is generally similar in quality to most Australian mid-vol brands, an Indian steelmaker said.

India imported 308,060t of met coke in November, up by 41.8pc from October. Imports from Colombia quadrupled to 93,000t as capacity expanded, while Chinese met coke export spot prices touched a multi-year high at just above $400/t fob China for 65 CSR met coke in early November.

Indian met coke imports from China as a result fell by 66.4pc month on month to 90,274t in November. India also received 50,000t from Australia, 20,000t from Russia, 15,356t from South Korea, 14,870t from Iran, 14,195t from Japan, 10,399t from Indonesia and 4,815t from Germany.

Indian imports of coking coal in November fell by 5.6pc from the previous month to 2.96mn t. Australia remained the largest source of these volumes at 2.95mn t, up by 49.9pc from October, while imports from the US fell by 20.8pc month on month to 228,113t.

Indian imports of Canadian coking coal in November dropped by 75.2pc from the previous month to 142,501t. The country also received 180,545t of coking coal from Mozambique and 41,900t from Indonesia.

Source: ARGUS MEDIA