Venezuela has slowed loading of petroleum coke cargoes in April, multiple sources said, potentially because of a drop in global coke pricing closing arbitrage opportunities. But shipping could pick up for May/June loading, with fob prices easing.
The main exporter of Venezuelan coke, Geneva, Switzerland-based Maroil Trading, as of early April had not agreed to reduce fob prices enough to make the coke competitive with US coke offers in demand centres like India and China, one source said. As a result, only two cargoes were loading in early April from the Jose port, both to China. By mid-April, no cargoes were loading at Jose, two people said. Maroil sells coke from Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdV under a $138mn contract made in September 2016, working with a number of secondary traders.
Only two Venezuelan coke cargoes have been received so far in China this month, both to the southern part of the country early in April, a fourth person said. This compares with an average of 7-8 vessels/per month of Venezuelan coke arriving to China in the first three months of this year. China was the leading destination for Venezuelan coke last year, accounting for 63pc of the Latin American country's 2022 coke exports. And Venezuela was China's second-largest supplier in March, delivering 306,900t, although this was down by 10pc from a month earlier.
Cfr prices in China and India have fallen sharply over the last two months. The 6.5pc sulphur cfr India price dropped to $138/t as of 19 April, down by 22pc from $177/t on 22 February. The cfr China 6.5pc sulphur price dropped by 25pc over the same period to $131.50/t.
Venezuelan coke has typically been selling at a discount to US material in India because of its more difficult payment terms as a result of US sanctions, although the discount did narrow in the second half of last year. At the same time, there is a premium for freight because of similar payment term issues. With Maroil keeping fob prices firm, the costs were too high for traders to be able to offer Venezuelan coke at competitive rates.
But one trader says Maroil's offers are now becoming more "realistic", and it is now able to make offers in India for May-June loading in the high-$130s/t on a cfr west coast India basis. There are also reports that PdV has made contracts with other firms besides Maroil to sell some of its coke. It is unclear how much coke may be loaded by these other traders in the coming months.
India received most of its coke from Venezuela in September 2022, with 186,700t. And November 2022 marked the second highest volume of Venezuelan imports to India at 167,000t. However, imports have eased since January, when a management turnover at PdV resulted in an audit of various contracts, including that of Maroil. This re-evaluation, as well as possibly a fire at the Jose port, resulted in some cargoes being delayed and a dispute between one trader and a cement maker, sources said.
One Venezuelan coke deal was recently concluded between this trader and a different cement maker, with the trader agreeing to take payment basis the discharge port. It was unclear when that cargo was loading or what price the cement maker paid.
Turkey has also seen a halt in Venezuelan coke shipments so far this year, with none of this supply received in January or February.
