Posted on 25 Feb 2025
India’s import quota restrictions on met coal in late 2024 has not resulted in a significant jump in prices despite expectations of increases, notes Kallanish.
India imposed quota restrictions on met coke imports during the last week of December 2024 to protect domestic industry. It set a six-month quota on low-ash met coke imports from 1 January to 30 June 2025, capped at 713,580t/quarter. Imports with over 18% ash remain unrestricted.
H1 2025 limits include 78,646t from China and 66,364t from Indonesia, with Poland and Colombia the remaining key suppliers.
In past two months, the price of domestic met coke has risen by INR 4,000-4,500/tonne ($46-52/t) in total.
For 64% CSR BF-grade (25-40mm) met coke prices are currently INR 33,000-34,000/t in eastern India and INR 31,000-32,000/t in the west.
Market experts have pointed to uncertainty on the Indian steel sector as key reason for met coke prices not going up substantially.
“We were expecting domestic coke prices to touch INR 35,000-37,000/t, however this didn’t happen as uncertainty around [the] steel safeguard duty and arrival of cheaper imports [caused] major mills to make need-based purchases”, says a Kolkata-based met coke trader.
Another trader adds: “While maximum domestic cokeries are booked until March, steel demand in India has been sluggish which is why [there has been] no dramatic jump in coke prices. But we are hearing of rebar shortage from primary mills which means companies will ramp up their production and coke demand and prices both will go up in coming month”.
In 2024, met coke imports rose 25% y-o-y to 4.8mt, mainly from China and Indonesia.
However, market participants note that the government has set import limits for each steel mill from every country to ensure fair distribution. This prevents any single buyer from monopolizing coke imports from a particular country and ensures that all mills can meet their requirements from various sources.
This means that while imports continue to come, those companies who completely rely upon imports would have to look for domestic material and if steel demand improves coke demand will also go up substantially, supporting its prices.
Source:Kallanish
