* Petcoke scarcity encourages replacement with coal
* S.African, Indonesian coal won’t be displaced
By Jacqueline Cowhig
LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) – U.S. high-sulphur thermal coal,
which is flowing into every possible pocket of global demand,
will replace up to 2 million tonnes a year of petroleum coke
that has been imported by India’s cement sector, Indian traders
said.
Indian cement companies Shree Cement and Ultratech
have taken one cargo of U.S. high-sulphur coal and
smaller manufacturers have bought parcels from stocks at ports.
Fresh purchases are currently being negotiated, the traders
said.
India’s coal imports are set to grow rapidly to over 100
million tonnes of thermal coal this year, most of it from
Indonesia and South Africa destined for power generators. The
cement sector is a smaller but significant consumer of imports.
Some Indian end-users are likely to turn to the very
high-sulphur Illinois Basin coals to take advantage of their
lower prices and greater supply than petroleum coke, the traders
said.
“The power plants cannot use this very high sulphur coal.
They have old boilers which can’t use it, so I don’t see it
displacing other origins there, only for cement,” said an
importer supplying both the power and cement sectors.
Petroleum coke, also known as petcoke, is produced by oil
refiners from the heaviest, highest-sulphur crudes. It is a
higher-energy, higher-sulphur fuel than most thermal coal.
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