Indian Steel Association has sought the government's immediate intervention to check coking coal price, which has grown three fold to around USD 450 a tonne. ISA Tweeted that coking coal accounts for 40-45% of steel production costs today. The Govt. should look into the coal indexes and their methodology, which is the basis for imported coking coal prices, so that they represent the true market situation. Indian Steel Association’s Executive Director & General Secretary Mr Alok Sahay told PTI “The government through bilateral talks or through a competition watchdog can look into the coal indexes, its methodology, which is the basis for imported coking coal prices so that they represent the true market situation.”Mr Sahay explained “The price of coking coal used to be in the range of USD 120-130 per tonne around a year back. In March 2022, coking coal prices had peaked at about USD 670 per tonne. At the current price range, the cost of coking coal alone in steel making is around INR 28,000-30,000 per tonne, which works to about 40-45% of the production cost. Besides, there are other input materials like iron ore, ferroalloys, logistics, fuel costs and other fixed costs. When crude oil prices go up, prices of petrol and diesel also go up, impacting the entire supply chain. Similarly, steel prices also rise in line with increasing coking coal rates.”India meets 85% or more of its coking coal requirement through imports, mainly from Australia. Two established indices are from Platts & Argus/IHS McCloskey. All Australian coking coal producers including global coking coal giant BHP’s BHP BMA is among the main supplier and wants steel mills worldwide to transact with Platts coking coal index by applying average price for month of laycan. Some of the Indian customers have a combination of Platts and Argus/Mccloskey indicesThe index based pricing mechanism was first proposed by BHP to its customers and gradually the entire market started following as it was adopted through mutual agreement between producers and buyers. The index is supposed to factor in the market dynamics based on actual transactions.
Indian Steel Association has sought the government's immediate intervention to check coking coal price, which has grown three fold to around USD 450 a tonne. ISA Tweeted that coking coal accounts for 40-45% of steel production costs today. The Govt. should look into the coal indexes and their methodology, which is the basis for imported coking coal prices, so that they represent the true market situation. Indian Steel Association’s Executive Director & General Secretary Mr Alok Sahay told PTI “The government through bilateral talks or through a competition watchdog can look into the coal indexes, its methodology, which is the basis for imported coking coal prices so that they represent the true market situation.”Mr Sahay explained “The price of coking coal used to be in the range of USD 120-130 per tonne around a year back. In March 2022, coking coal prices had peaked at about USD 670 per tonne. At the current price range, the cost of coking coal alone in steel making is around INR 28,000-30,000 per tonne, which works to about 40-45% of the production cost. Besides, there are other input materials like iron ore, ferroalloys, logistics, fuel costs and other fixed costs. When crude oil prices go up, prices of petrol and diesel also go up, impacting the entire supply chain. Similarly, steel prices also rise in line with increasing coking coal rates.”India meets 85% or more of its coking coal requirement through imports, mainly from Australia. Two established indices are from Platts & Argus/IHS McCloskey. All Australian coking coal producers including global coking coal giant BHP’s BHP BMA is among the main supplier and wants steel mills worldwide to transact with Platts coking coal index by applying average price for month of laycan. Some of the Indian customers have a combination of Platts and Argus/Mccloskey indicesThe index based pricing mechanism was first proposed by BHP to its customers and gradually the entire market started following as it was adopted through mutual agreement between producers and buyers. The index is supposed to factor in the market dynamics based on actual transactions.
