Analysis

Lower crude oil prices have exerted a positive impact on the Indian cement industry, which has reported increased savings led by lower costs for energy and packaging polymer in Q1 2015 vs. Q4 2014. After the initial decline in fuel-grade petcoke, April brought about a mild price increase of around 1 percent, as Indian interest in imported petcoke (fuel grade petroleum coke) held up.

End-users are looking to cover cargoes for the upcoming monsoon season, although their price expectations remained low. Sources of petcoke imports further diversify, as new producers in the Middle East start shipping the product. Indian end-users showed buying interest for imported fuel-grade petcoke amid falling dry bulk freight rates, which had made landed cost economically viable. Imported petcoke was attracting buyers from other industries too due to low prices and high energy. The Baltic Dry Index (BD I), which measures the rates for chartering ships for transporting bulk commodities, has been near its all-time low for the better part of FY2015.

Read the rest of the article in the CemWeek Magazine, Issue 24.