Nippon Steel settles 4Q semi-soft contract: Update

Japan's Nippon Steel has settled its October-December contract for semi-soft coking coal with an Australian supplier at $98/t fob Australia.

The settlement price is a drop from $115/t fob Australia for the company's third-quarter contract. It is also below the fourth-quarter deal Nippon Steel made two months ago with another Australian supplier at $107/t for a smaller portion of its semi-soft requirements.

"It is hard to say which settlement should be considered the benchmark at this point," a Japanese trader said.

Nippon Steel and South Korean steel producer Posco similarly settled their fourth-quarter contracts for the Foxleigh pulverised coal injection (PCI) grade at $105/t fob Australia.

Nippon Steel used a three-month average of premium hard coking coal prices from the September-November period as guidance in its fourth-quarter PCI and semi-soft contract negotiations. The Argus average for premium low-volatile hard coking coal for the September-November period was $141.28/t fob Australia.

The September-November average for mid-volatile semi-soft spot prices assessed by Argus was $94.20/t fob Australia, while the Argus low-volatile PCI average over the September-November period was $91.42/t fob Australia.

Argus last assessed mid-volatile semi-soft and low-volatile PCI at $87.85/t and $83/t respectively on a fob basis for export.

By Greg Holt

source: Argus Media