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Bogota, 6 March (Argus) — Moroccan utility Jorf Lasfar has short-listed a European trading firm in the first round of its spot tender to buy 120,000t of coal, after the firm offered a delivered price of $92/t.
Industrial action at the Cerrejon mine in Colombia and a loading suspension at Puerto Drummond on the Caribbean coastline of the country last month have sharply reduced the availability of spot Colombian supplies. This means that the most competitive offers are being submitted by trading firms with spot US material.
Spot US east coast coal is being offered on a fob basis at around $80/t, while Panamax freight rates between US terminal Hampton Roads and Jorf Lasfar are marked at around $13/t.
Jorf Lasfar had originally been seeking three cargoes of 60,000t each, but this has been cut back to just two cargoes. The cargoes are scheduled for delivery during the second and third quarters of this year.
The Moroccan utility has specified that cargoes should have minimum calorific value of 5,800 kcal/kg, a maximum sulphur content of 1pc and a maximum volatile matter of 35pc.
Jorf Lasfar is Morocco’s largest power station. It is run by a US-Swiss consortium that runs spot tenders every quarter.
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