After the surge: Met coal costs are catching up with iron ore

摘要

With prices of metallurgical coalrallying from the beginning of this year, the rawmaterial is set to become as expensive as ironore for mills in Asia, analysts and sources saidthis week.Iron ore typically accounts for around50-60% of raw material input costs in a blastfurnace, while coking coal — in the form of metcoke —accounts for about one-third. The restof the production cost is divided between PCIand other inputs like limestone, which reducessulfur dioxide emissions, sources said.