Russia coal exporters oppose rail tariff hike

Tuesday, 18 Oct 2011

Reuters reported that Russian coal exporters are lobbying against a proposed rail tariff hike of up to 15% due to take effect from January 1 because this could make some exports uneconomic.

The huge distance between Russia coal mining heartland in Siberia and ports on the Baltic and Pacific coasts is a major part of exporters cash costs.

Russia and the United States already have the highest cash costs globally of over $80 a tonne FOB and so need coal prices to remain high enough to give them a profit margin.

Russian exporters have cut exports when prices have fallen in the past.

Spot coal prices have held near the USD 120 mark for DES ARA cargoes for most of this year. The Federal Tariff Service FTS last week said that rail tariffs would rise by an average of 15% in 2012.

One exporter said "The latest we heard was a proposal to raise tariffs 6% on shorter routes and up to 15% on longer routes. A rise of 15% could cause problems for some companies that have higher-cost mines and routes to ports and could make it difficult for them to export."

Exporters speaking on the sidelines of the Coaltrans conference in Madrid said their companies senior managers were continuing to lobby authorities in a bid to reduce the proposed rail rates hike and hoped for something slightly lower than 15%.

Another exporter said "We don´t know exactly how far the tariffs are going to rise. We are waiting still for an official notification from the authorities."

(Sourced Reuters)

US freight shipments reach two-year high

Friday, 14 October 2011

The US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) announced Thursday that the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.4 percent in August from July, reaching the highest level since July 2008. Freight shipments have increased 19 of the last 28 months.

Freight shipments were also up 4.6 percent from August 2010 and 10.3 percent from August 2009. For the first eight months of 2011, however, the index increased by a more measured pace of 1.6 percent over 2010 levels.

(sourced steelorbis)

Tags: USA , North America , freight , trading

Iron Ore-ShFE rebar ends flat; spot ore up on freight hike

Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:41am GMT

By Nick Trevethan

SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Shanghai steel rebar futures rose 0.4 percent on Thursday, on course for a loss of around 1.5 percent on the quarter, while iron ore indexes gained on the prospect of costlier freight charges for Indian ores.

The most active rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, October, rose 19 yuan to 4,813 yuan a tonne by 0140 GMT, reversing the previous session's losses.

The contract remains near an eight-session high, having hit a four-month low of 4,627 on March 22, but is down 1.5 percent this quarter.

Late Wednesday, Baoshan Iron & Steel , China's top listed steelmaker, posted an 8.3 percent rise in quarterly profit, and said it expected growth in global steel demand to slow this year. [ID:nB9E7EP00X]

"The important thing to note is that it's growing, not slowing. Maybe it's not growing as quickly as before but the rates we saw in 2009 and 2010 were unsustainable, built on all that stimulus money," said a trading source in Sydney.

"It looks like demand growth will moderate. We still have a bit of an inventory hump to get over, which in the short term may cap steel prices, in particular in China and even cause a lull in iron ore demand in the next three to six months, but it's temporary."

Key iron ore indexes, based on spot transactions in China, rose sharply on Wednesday.

India's iron ore exports fell for the eighth straight month in February because of a continuing ban on shipments by its key Karnataka state and exports are likely to face further pressure as the country hikes freight rates again.

Exports from the world's No. 3 iron ore supplier dropped 18.6 percent from a year ago to 10.137 million tonnes in February, data from the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries showed on Wednesday.

In addition, Indian Railways said it will impose a "busy season" charge of 7 percent on iron ore freight rates from April 1 to June 30 and from Oct. 1 to March 31.

Platts 62 percent iron ore index IODBZ00-PLT jumped $5.50 cents to $175 a tonne, including freight, and the Steel Index's 62 percent benchmark .IO62-CNI=SI gained $2 to $170.50.

Metal Bulletin's 62 percent gauge .IO62-CNO=MB rose $1.74 to $169.71. (Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Tags : steel plant, steelmaking, Chinese iron ore market, raw material, busy season charge, levy on coal and coke