Coal news and updates

RIL rolls over pet coke price for October loading

October 3: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's largest petroleum coke maker, has kept the basic price of the material unchanged at Rs 6,300 per ton ex-refinery for loading in October, an industry source said.

The company had increased the price by Rs 300 per ton for September loading from Rs 6,000 per ton in August. Earlier, in July, it had increased the price by Rs 100 per ton to Rs 5,900 per ton.

The company had increased prices both in July and September to offset the impact of the depreciation in the Indian currency versus the US dollar.

Though information from other refiners like Essar, HPCL and BORL, which generally follow RIL in fixing their pet coke prices, is not available at present, they are also likely to follow the leader, feel sources.

"The roll-over in prices by RIL for October loading was prompted by the fact that the price of alternative fuel – coal – is, by and large, unchanged. The price of coal has gone up slightly, but not much," a source said.

"There is, at present, demand for pet coke in India, particularly of domestic origin, but it cannot be said that demand has gone up significantly," an official with a refinery said.

RIL had kept the price unchanged for June loading at Rs 5,900 per ton after reducing it by Rs 50 per ton for May loading. It had earlier increased the price by Rs 100 per ton in April to Rs 6,000 on the back of a Rs 200 per ton increase in March to Rs 5,900 per ton from Rs 5,700 per ton in February.

Earlier, between December 2012 and February 2013, the Indian refiners had rolled over the prices before resorting to increase in March and April, 2013. They had cut prices by Rs 400 and Rs 150 per ton in November 2012 and October 2012 respectively.