The seaborne metallurgical coal market was relatively stable Wednesday with no significant price movements across all the met coal segment. Most market participants continued to adopt a wait-and-see position.
Platts assessed premium low-vol hard coking coal and second-tier material stable at $147.50/mt FOB Australia and $133/mt FOB respectively.
At least two market sources said the top Australian premium low-vol materials can be traded at $165/mt CFR China.
But one was a steel mill close to a port, and therefore more able to give a higher price indication than other mills further inland. The source did acknowledge that his bid might not be the level that other steel plants would consider.
Meanwhile one Hong-Kong trader said $155/mt CFR China might be the possible deal price for Australian premium mid-vol HCC.
Although spot prices for coking coal have been falling since Monday, another trader said they were already close to the bottom and he would consider starting to take positions.
On the second-tier market, negotiations were heard to be ongoing for a 60-63% CSR coal at around $130/mt FOB Australia. No further details were immediately available on the loading date, volume or destination.
For Canadian materials, a procurement manager at a Chinese mill said that mid-vol coals could be traded within the $150-155/mt CFR China range. With regards to the same coal, a Beijing-based trader would consider only at below $150/mt CFR level.
The PCI market saw some liquidity with one Russian 13-14% VM and 9-10% ash PCI cargo heard traded two to three days ago at around $130-132/mt CFR China.
On semi-soft, an offer was made for Australian material with 35% VM and 3 CSN at $110/mt FOB with with the seller indicating that the price was "negotiable," a market source said. One buy-side source felt that $110-115/mt CFR China level was a more acceptable level.
Unlike coking coal, metallurgical coke saw some decline with Chinese sellers more willing to give more price discounts for export materials.
Two Chinese participants generally indicated that 65/63% CSR met coke could be traded at around $265/mt FOB Tianjin. This departs from last week's price indication at $270/mt FOB for similar quality material.
For 62/60% CSR material, one of them saw the tradable level at around $260/mt FOB.