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Coal Prices
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said it is expecting a significant fall in rates of metallurgical coal and Indian steel makers are to benefit from the price correction. "We expect lower seaborne met coal prices will help Indian steel mills, as they import 70 per cent of their total requirement," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Anshuman Bharati said. The agency estimates that a sharp fall in seaborne metallurgical coal prices will improve cash flow and ease pressure on Indian steel producers, he said. "Our price assumptions are much lower than the average price of USD 370/tonne in 2022 and spot price of about USD 300/tonne. This is partly because we expect the supply constraints in Australia to ease over the next few months as adverse weather becomes less frequent," Bharati said. Indian steel producers are generally the most sensitive to seaborne met coal prices, as opposed to iron ore prices. This reflects India's status as the world's top importer of met coal and the fact .
Coal India Chairman Pramod Agrawal on Monday said there is a "strong case" for increasing coal prices, and the hike could be effected "very soon" as discussions are underway with stakeholders. Agrawal also said he is confident the mining behemoth will achieve its production target of 1 billion tonnes by 2025-26. "There is a strong case for increasing coal prices, as that has not happened in the last five-odd years. This year, the wage negotiation has taken place as well, which will have an impact on CIL's financial condition, especially for a few subsidiaries where the manpower cost is very high. "There will be a lot of problems if prices are not hiked. Discussions are underway with stakeholders... It will happen very soon," Agrawal said at the Indian Coal Markets Conference here organized by Mjunction. Elaborating on the 1 billion tonne production target, he said though CIL is on course to achieve this by 2025-26, it will depend on factors like the need of the country and the grow
The increased price of coal continue to be a drag on the margin of domestic base metal players with no immediate relief in sight, rating agency ICRA said on Thursday. In a recent note on the primary base metal industry, ICRA said that the earnings of the industry would continue to remain under pressure in the second half of the current fiscal, following a dull performance in the first half of FY'23. "Elevated coal costs along with metal price corrections remain the key headwinds affecting the margins, with no immediate relief in sight," ICRA said in a statement. On account of input cost pressures, the rating agency said it has revised its estimates of operating profitability of domestic players downward to 18 per cent in the current fiscal. ICRA's operating profitability forecast for domestic players is almost 3 percentage points lower compared to its earlier forecast made in September last year and 10 percentage points lower compared to FY'22. "In FY2024, while some respite is ..
Coal India on Thursday informed investors that increasing coal prices remains difficult in the current context when the economy is grappling with high inflation. The miner was seeking to raise prices to mitigate high input costs on account of high diesel and explosives prices, among others. Coal India has not raised prices in the last four years. "All stakeholders are not coming on board," Coal India chairman Pramod Agrawal told analysts, responding to questions on coal price. Coal India was rather focussing on ramping up production and cost control to overcome the cost pressure. The miner posted its best-ever profit for the April-June quarter, backed by high demand for coal. It posted a 179 per cent year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 8,832.86 crore for the first quarter. Coal India was hopeful of reaching close to the H1 production target of 306 million tonne by September. For FY23, the annual production target is 700 million tonne. Coal India expects to ach