Petroleum coke demand in India is increasing as prices are at a wide discount to coal and low capacity utilization at cement plants encourages fuel experimentation. An “evolution from sold-out markets to excess capacity makes it easier to try challenging fuels,” Sanjay Kumar, regional category manager of Asia-Pacific energy for Lafarge- Holcim, said at the Argus Asia Petroleum Coke conference in Mumbai last week. In markets where cement capacity is sold out, such as the Philippines, producers are unwilling to try new fuels because they do not want to reduce output, Kumar said. Using coke can cut cement production by as much as 8-9pc compared with a coal-fired kiln, which is the main reason why coke is always priced at a discount to coal, Arun Daga, head of central procurement for Ultratech Cement, told the same conference.
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