Coking coal price will fall further: SAIL

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Chairman CS Verma today said that the coking coal prices, that have softened in the last two weeks, will fall further on expected rise in production.

"Coking coal prices in spot market have already fallen. I am of the firm opinion that the current coking coal price of $235 a tonne cannot be sustainable," Verma told reporters here.

Following flashfloods in Australia's Queensland province, the price of coking coal had skyrocketed to $350 a tonne just two weeks back. However, it felled sharply since then to $235 a tonne now.

"For the last two weeks, coking coal prices have been softening, especially on Japan fall-out. Japan is importing about 10 million tonne every month. So, there is more availability in the market," he added.

Verma said the coking coal price would come to normalcy once mining companies in Australia resume full operations.

When asked if SAIL has entered into a contract for supply of coking coal for the April-June quarter, he said that the company was yet to take a final call, but it would soon happen.

"We have reached to a provisional pricing only. I can't share the detail since it is confidential," Verma said.

SAIL requires around 15 million tonne of coking coal a year. Only 4.5 million tonne is met through domestic sources and the remaining 10.5 million tonne comes from imports, around 60% of which comes from Australia.