India's Venezuela coke discount falls as sanctions end

: Petroleum coke
23/11/08

The discount for Venezuelan fuel-grade petroleum coke to other origins has started to narrow in the key seaborne market of India following recent easing of US sanctions.

More Indian cement makers appear willing to experiment with Venezuelan coke as an alternative to US and Saudi Arabian coke owing to its higher Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) and lower sulphur content. Enquiries for the Venezuelan material have been increasing.

A prompt Supramax cargo of Venezuelan 4.5pc sulphur coke was sold in the mid-$130s/t cfr to a cement maker on India's west coast after sanctions were eased. Around the same time, November- and December-loading Supramax cargoes of US 6.5pc sulphur coke traded at $136.50-$138/t cfr on India's west coast, meaning the discount narrowed to only around $1-$3/t, from as much as $25/t in 2022. A second Venezuelan coke cargo was sold in the mid-to-high $130s/t cfr early this week to a cement maker on India's east coast which had not previously used this coke, suggesting that its demand has widened, a trader said.

"Buyers who appreciate a better quality will be ready to pay for Venezuelan coke, while some plants want to develop a third source of supply," the trader added. Venezuelan coke was previously selling at a higher discount to US material in India because of its more difficult payment terms on account of US sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdV.

PdV has set a goal of exporting 800,000 t/month of coke by the end of the year. That is up from an average of about 280,000 t/month from January 2022-March 2023, and a monthly peak of about 620,000t late last year, according to customs data from importing countries reported by GTT.

A lot of work has accordingly been done this year to spruce up the port infrastructure in Venezuela to reduce the total turnaround time, according to a source. A vessel can load and leave in 6-8 days now, against 10-12 days early this year. PdV is no longer keen to discount this coke and would rather eye a premium for its better quality, he added.

When Venezuelan coke offers were first made to India in early 2022, buyers were hunting for cheaper alternative sources as the delivered price of US 6.5pc sulphur coke had reached a record high of $270/t in mid-March last year, because of higher fob US coke prices and freight rates.

Buyers sought at least a $10-$20/t discount to experiment with Venezuelan coke, and to deal with additional roadblocks such as challenges in securing bank letters of credit (LCs) and insurance as a result of US sanctions. Loading delays of at least 2-3 weeks was another challenge that buyers had to factor in when booking these cargoes.

Indian buyers' experience with Venezuelan supplies has been mixed so far, with some struggling with non-performance, unusually long delays and other challenges. A few instances of non-performance and delays turned many buyers wary of this fuel. This also pushed buyers to amend trade terms and allow payment only after the cargo is received and discharged.

Venezuela became the top supplier of coke to India in September 2022 when the country received over 186,700t of Venezuelan supplies, up from zero a year earlier and 54,200t in August, according to GAC Shipping data.

Venezuelan coke receipts pressured

But receipts from Venezuela have been under pressure in recent months, as marketers shifted to nearer destinations because of a closed arbitrage.

India received roughly 132,700t over May-August, compared with about 144,500t in March and 148,300t in April. A change in the contract terms for a major trader, alongside a sharp drop in the wider coke market this year, also weighed on loadings from Venezuela.

Prior to the US imposing sanctions on PdV in January 2019, Venezuela was among the biggest coke exporters, attracting buyers seeking coke with lower sulphur content and a HGI of about 70. Following the sanctions, this coke struggled to find buyers and exports fell to 49,400t in 2019 and zero in 2020, down from 1.15mn t in 2018. But exports grew sharply again last year, jumping to a multiyear high of 3.17mn t, according to import data from the country's trade partners compiled by GTT.

Meanwhile, the US could start reimposing oil-focused sanctions on Venezuela if the country does not move toward commitments for free elections and release more political prisoners by 30 November, a US official said on 7 November.

By Ajay Modi

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25/12/17

Indian cement plants use more domestic coal in November

Singapore, 17 December (Argus) — Domestic thermal coal supplies to Indian cement makers rose on the year in November and from October, with producers increasing coal use to benefit from its competitive pricing vis-a-vis petroleum coke. Cement makers received 730,000t of domestic coal in November, up by 1.6pc from 720,000t a year earlier, India's coal ministry data show. Receipts in April-November — the first eight months of India's April 2025-March 2026 fiscal year — were up by almost 23pc on the year at 6.33mn t. Receipts rose by 14pc from 640,000t in October, indicating an uptick in cement output and demand in the dry season after the monsoon rains. The increase was also partly supported by the removal of a 400 rupees/t ($4.43/t) levy on coal effective 22 September. Higher domestic coal supplies have enabled cement plants to increase the share of coal in their fuel mix. Cement plants use coal and coke as fuel in cement making. Most plants can switch between coal and coke to take advantage of lower costs. The recent increase in cfr prices and offers of seaborne high-sulphur coke may also have prompted some cement plants to expand reliance on domestic coal, but most producers still need to blend coke in certain ratios to use the locally available coal. A weakening of the rupee against the dollar may also be triggering a preference for domestic coal compared with imported fuel. The rupee averaged Rs88.88 to the dollar in November, compared with Rs88.37 in October. It has slipped further and averaged Rs90.08 so far this month, after hitting a record low of Rs91 on 16 December. January-loading Supramax cargoes of US high-sulphur coke are being offered in the high-$110s/t cfr on India's west coast. The Argus -assessed index for the delivered India price of 6.5pc sulphur coke was last marked at an over eight-month high of $118/t cfr on 10 December. Indian coal supplies to non-power consumers, such as cement plants and steel mills, increased in the first eight months of the current fiscal year because of higher availability and lower demand from coal-fired power plants. Higher domestic coal supply to cement plants and a partial replacement of coke usage may be partly limiting India's overall appetite for imported coke in 2025 so far. Indian cement makers received 1.06mn t of seaborne coke in October, down by 13pc from a year earlier and lower from 1.09mn t in September, according to data from shipbroker Interocean. Cement makers' cumulative imports over January-October stood at 9.06mn t, compared with 9.42mn t a year earlier. By Ajay Modi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US west coast coke output hits record low

25/12/04

US west coast coke output hits record low

Houston, 4 December (Argus) — US west coast marketable petroleum coke production in September hit a record low in data going back to 2005, as some California refineries move forward with plans to wind down production . Production on the US west coast totalled 323,400t in September, down by 24pc from a year earlier and off by 26pc from August, according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration. Refinery utilisation in the region averaged 90pc during the month, down by 3 percentage points on the year and off by 4 percentage points from August. Although Phillips 66 did not completely cease processing crude at its 139,000 b/d Los Angeles, California, refining complex until mid-October , it is possible that shutdown processes at this refinery contributed to lower US west coast coke output in September. The refinery had already idled a number of its units by the beginning of October, largely on the gasoline production side. Flaring was also reported at a number of California refineries during the month, such as Marathon Petroleum's 365,000 b/d Los Angeles refinery and Chevron's 269,000 b/d El Segundo refinery, while PBF Energy's 156,400 b/d Martinez, California, refinery was still running at partial capacity. US west coast coke output may continue to decline in the coming months, further pressured by the planned shutdown of Valero's 145,000 b/d refinery in Benicia, California, in the first half of 2026. But Marathon is spending millions to upgrade its Los Angeles complex, even as rivals shutter plants. Lower output on the US west coast contributed to a drop in total US coke production during September. Output across all regions totalled 3.1mn t, down by 6pc from a year earlier and off by 4pc on the month. Total US refinery utilisation rates averaged 93pc in September, up by 3 percentage points on the year but down by 2 percentage points from August. Production also declined significantly on the US Gulf coast, falling to just under 1.9mn t. Output dropped by 11pc on the year and by 1pc from a month earlier. But refinery utilisation in this region averaged 93pc during the month, up by 3 percentage points from a year earlier and down by 3 percentage points from August. Flaring was reported at Motiva's 626,000 b/d refinery in Port Arthur, Texas; two of ExxonMobil's Texas refineries; Phillip 66's 149,000 b/d Borger, Texas, refinery; and other plants across the region in September, which may have contributed to lower coke production. TotalEnergies was also conducting a turnaround at its 238,000 b/d refinery in Port Arthur during the month. And production decreased to 40,100t on the US east coast, down by 5pc from a year earlier but up by 11pc on the month. Refinery utilisation on the US east coast averaged 89pc in September, up by 3 percentage points on the year and down by 1 percentage point from August. Production declines across these regions offset an increase in the US midcontinent and Rocky Mountains. Output in these areas rose by 19pc and 15pc on the year in September, respectively. Refinery utilisation in the US midcontinent averaged 95pc during the month, up by 4 percentage points on the year and flat from August. US Rocky Mountain refinery utilisation averaged almost 100pc, up by 4 percentage points from a year earlier and nearly flat from the previous month. By Hadley Medlock US coke output '000t Region Sep 25 ±% Sep 24 ±% Aug 25 Jan-Sep 25 ±% Jan-Sep 24 Atlantic coast 41.0 -5 11 350.5 -7 Midcontinent 789.8 19 0 6,920.5 4 Gulf coast 1,894.4 -11 -1 16,643.4 -4 Rocky Mountains 94.2 15 -6 821.6 13 West coast 323.4 -24 -26 3,855.9 -9 US total 3,142.8 -6 -4 28,591.8 -3 —EIA Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US cement market 2026 outlook shaky

25/11/25

US cement market 2026 outlook shaky

Washington, 25 November (Argus) — The US is continuing to ramp up cement import capacity even as a demand slowdown has emerged, with policy uncertainty, especially around tariffs, creating considerable risk. "Any forecast has risk," analyst Ed Sullivan of The Sullivan Report said at last week's Intercem Americas conference in Miami, Florida. "This forecast has more risk than I can recall." An especially uncertain policy landscape is not only making the forecast shakier than usual but also increasing hesitancy among consumers and businesses. "The risks are not balanced. They are more on the downside, at least in the near term," Sullivan said. Ozinga, a concrete and cement supplier in Florida and the US midcontinent, was initially optimistic that cement demand would come "roaring back" after the November 2024 presidential election. "Then the Liberation Day thing happened, and I think that really put a pause to a lot of projects, just enough to make it very disappointing for most of the year," chief executive officer Marty Ozinga said, referring to the slate of tariffs President Donald Trump rolled out in early April. Although there has been a "measured turnaround in the last eight weeks", likely in part because "the dust is settling a bit" on US tariff announcements, "we're not going to catch all the way up by any means", Ozinga said. Tariffs have added $5-10/t of costs for US importers, On Field Investment Research managing partner Yassine Touahri said. Sullivan expects that US cement consumption fell by 5.2pc year over year in 2024 and will drop by another 4.6pc this year. His outlook for next year calls for a further 0.2pc drop, but this would be from a lower base of comparison, with 2026 likely to be the bottom at around 100mn t. But in terms of the longer-term outlook, the US is still well below its previous per capita cement consumption rates, with a forecast population growth of 30mn people by 2050, Sullivan said. At the rate of consumption of just a few years ago, the US would easily reach 140mn t market volume, he said. "It is glaring that we're nowhere near" the 30-year average in terms of cement consumption per capita, Ozinga said. "Ever since the great financial crisis, we've missed residential, and that used to be the bread and butter of everything we did." As mortgage rates remain relatively high at above 6pc and home affordability is at record lows, the residential construction sector is likely to continue to struggle. And quarterly reports from major cement players are showing a flat or even negative outlook for cement prices, making investments into the sector "pretty risky", Sullivan said. Domestic capacity utilization is only running around 76pc, which is well below the 80pc that producers would like to see, he said. Import capacity continues to rise "On the import side, capacity additions are not slowing down at all", even though demand for additional imports is much less certain than it was 3-5 years ago, LEK Consulting managing director Olivier Asset said. The amount of new and announced import terminal capacity is "not at all dissimilar to what we saw in the previous cycle in the 2000s", prior to the global financial crisis, Ozinga said. As the US domestic industry has lost market share to imports, cement companies have focused on vertical integration to control the market, Touahri said. Managing Director of FMI Capital Advisors George Reddin agreed. For those companies especially in areas near import facilities and with multiple cement plants, such as Louisiana, there is a drive to vertically integrate by acquiring ready mix concrete, Reddin said. This is part of a cycle that "happens every 15 years or so", he said. "Where the imports are is where the activity is in mergers and acquisitions," Reddin said. "Nobody wants to see their production go down, certainly no one wants to see an idle plant." Sullivan forecasts import volumes to also hit a bottom at around 17mn t in 2026, despite the large amount of new import capacity coming on line. By Lauren Masterson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Pakistan aims for record-high cement exports

25/11/25

Pakistan aims for record-high cement exports

Washington, 25 November (Argus) — Pakistan's cement exports could rise to a record high within the next two years, delegates heard at the Intercem Americas conference in Miami, Florida, last week. "We are hoping to reach 12mn t within the next two years," DG Khan Cement executive director Farid Fazal said at the conference. This would be 12pc higher than the previous record high of 10.75mn t in the 2008-09 fiscal year, before India banned imports from Pakistan. And it would be 30pc higher than the 9.21mn t exported in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The country's exports more than doubled in 2024-25 from two years earlier, as Pakistan ramped up shipments to Asia, Africa and the US. The country has more than 40mn t of surplus capacity, as cement capacity was close to 90mn t in 2024-25 while domestic consumption was below 40mn t. Despite the cement industry running at only 55pc capacity utilisation, "everybody is expanding", Fazal said. DG Khan's investment in the production of LC3 cement, a lower-carbon emissions product, could also help it better compete in the seaborne market. LC3 cement contains only 50pc clinker, with 30pc calcined clay, 15pc limestone and 5pc gypsum. The company is able to source this clay from its own quarry. The US market is increasingly moving away from traditional CEM I Portland cement, which contains 95pc carbon-intensive clinker, and towards products with a higher proportion of supplementary cementitious materials in order to achieve a lower carbon footprint. These types of blended cements with lower clinker content increased to 60pc of the US import market in 2025, up from 5pc in 2000, On Field Investment Research managing partner Yassine Touahri said. And the EU's upcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) import costs will push that import market further towards lower carbon cement products. The Pakistani cement industry is also leaning on the government to reduce the extensive regulatory requirements on the cement industry in order to encourage exports, Fazal said. Egyptian exports to hold steady at 20mn t Egypt, which has been ramping up cement and clinker exports sharply over the past five years, is expected to maintain total exports at around 20mn t of cement and clinker next year, if demand persists, Arabian Cement chief executive officer Sergio Alcantarilla said at the conference. Although domestic demand rose to an estimated 53-54mn t this year, up by 12pc from 2024, an increase in utilization rates should allow Egypt to maintain exports at the 20mn t plus level in 2026. The government this month approved two new licenses for 2mn t/yr of combined production, but this capacity will not come online until 2027 or 2028. Although Egypt used to be the market leader in clinker exports, this year is expected to be the first time in five years that cement exports will have exceeded clinker exports. Alcantarilla expects cement shipments to reach 12mn t this year, up from 7.6mn t in 2024, while clinker exports will fall to 8mn t from 12.2mn t last year. By Lauren Masterson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Stronger 3Q helps Cemex offset weaker 1H

25/10/28

Stronger 3Q helps Cemex offset weaker 1H

Washington, 28 October (Argus) — Cemex's cement sales volumes were mostly steady on the year in January-September, as a 5pc increase in the third quarter offset declines in the first half. Cemex said in July that it anticipated total cement sales volume to be flat to the prior year in full-year 2025, after sales fell by 4pc across all regions in the second quarter. Although volumes were still down on the year in Mexico and the US in the first nine months, a 7pc increase in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and a 3pc increase in South and Central America and the Caribbean (SCAC) allowed overall cement sales to pick up by 1pc on the year. These cement volumes include domestic and export volumes of gray cement, white cement, special cement, mortar and clinker. Revenue was down by 3pc year on year in the first nine months, falling to $11.95bn, while profit fell by 6pc to $3.95bn. The largest drop in profit was from Mexico, which fell by 17pc to $1.59bn. But total revenue was up by 5pc in the third quarter and profit rose by 7pc. Cement prices were up by 2pc year over year across all Cemex's regions in the third quarter, with a 6pc increase in Mexico and 4pc and 3pc rises in EMEA and SCAC offsetting 3pc declines in the US and Europe. Cemex divested its Panama operations to Grupo Estrella and used part of the proceeds to acquire a majority stake in US-based Couch Aggregates. The company expects the investment in aggregates to increase production capacity by about 10pc in 2026. Cemex is optimistic about the outlook for US cement demand because of the infrastructure and industrial sectors. Infrastructure related to the 2026 World Cup should also boost demand in Mexico, the company said. "Definitely we see a better outlook for Mexico for next year," chief executive Jaime Muguiro said, with Cemex having an "extensive a number of projects in the pipeline". And in Europe, the tightening of free allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System and the upcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) that is planned to start on 1 January 2026 should support cement pricing. The CBAM policy's increase in costs for imported cement and clinker could allow European producers to add €5-10/t to their cement pricing, Muguiro said. Cement companies in Turkey and Algeria that have previously exported to Europe have a much higher CO2 footprint than what Cemex expects the European benchmark to be, which could be as low as 650kg of CO2/t of clinker. "We do have an advantage because in Europe, we have much lower CO2 footprint," he said. For the full year, the company maintained its guidance for a low-single-digit decline in cement volumes for its overall operations and its US operations, with a high-single-digit decline in Mexico. In EMEA and SCAC, it expects a mid- and low-single-digit increase, respectively. Lower petroleum coke prices also contributed to the stronger third quarter. In Mexico, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin expanded by 5 percentage points in the third quarter, with a 18pc decrease in unitary fuel cost contributing about 1.1 percentage points of that, Muguiro said. The company expects a high-single-digit percentage decrease in its energy costs per tonne of cement produced for full-year 2025. By Lauren Masterson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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