End-2016 changes in steelmaking input costs

If you are watching steelmaking input costs, you will have noticed the marked increases in input costs of recent months. For example,

- Thermal coal has moved from $78/tonne in September to $107 in November 2016 (Australian coal, fob Newcastle/Port Kembla)

- Iron ore has moved from $57/tonne to $72/tonne (Chinese imported iron ore fines (62% Fe spot, CFR Tianjin port)

- Natural gas has increased from $4.01 to $4.54/m BTUs (Russian origin - border price in Germany expressed in US $ per million metric British Thermal Units).

The full time series for these costs can be seen at http://www.steelonthenet.com/commodity-prices.html.

According to Platts, met coke prices also doubled earlier this year (see http://www.platts.com/latest-news/metals/singapore/seaborne-metallurgical-coke-price-doubles-jan-27661511).

Surely steel prices will catch up soon?

blogger@steelonthenet.com

European blast furnace coke prices

One of the biggest raw material costs for integrated steelmakers is the cost of metallurgical (or blast furnace) coke. We report European met coke prices on our website. Prices for blast furnace coke are updated monthly.

To see the monthly price date since January 2008 visit http://www.steelonthenet.com/files/blast-furnace-coke.html.

blogger@steelonthenet.com