Steel Authority of India and rival steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited both struck the $109.5/t deals with Queensland coking coal producers Anglo American and Peabody Energy, according to three of Platts’ sources.
The sources also claimed that US miners Alpha Natural Resources and Logan & Kanawha inked June quarter deals with the Indian steel mills at $100/t for five cargoes.
Leading HCC exporter BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance was believed to still be in June quarter negotiations with buyers.
“The miner is understood to be opting for finalising a pricing arrangement that could involve index-linked fallback clauses,” Platts commented.
Coal companies typically do not comment on commercial matters such as contract pricing.
A $109.5/t settlement price is a 6.4%, or $7.5/t, fall from the previous quarter’s benchmark and is large enough to trigger more job cutbacks.
