Shree Cement Ltd. may buy 3.5Mt of imported thermal coal for delivery in the year ending March 2012, India Coal Market Watch reported, citing an unidentified company official. The Kolkata, India-based cement maker currently consumes 2Mt of thermal coal for its power plant and cement manufacture, and 1.2Mt of petroleum coke. The company may replace 400,000t of coke with thermal coal because of high coke prices, it said.

Meanwhile, UltraTech Cement, a unit of India’s Aditya Birla Group, has reportedly agreed to buy 200,000t of South African thermal coal via four vessels at a delivered price of about US$124/t for arrival between January and March.

Export prices at South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal gained 14 percent to an average $128.10 a ton in the week to Dec. 24, according to IHS McCloskey, the highest level since the week ended Oct. 3, 2008.
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