Last checked by Coal Boss
Schemes and rules change. Treat this as an explanation, and check the current notice on the official portal before you act.
Imported and internationally traded thermal coal is priced against published benchmarks. Three are widely referred to. None of them is a price for coal in India: each describes coal of a stated quality at a stated place, and a buyer here adds freight, duties, handling and exchange-rate effects.
Newcastle (Australia): ICE Newcastle coal futures are cash-settled against the globalCOAL Monthly NEWC Index — the average of globalCOAL's weekly Newcastle index — for coal loaded at the Newcastle Coal Terminal. Contracts are quoted in US dollars per tonne (ICE contract specification).
Richards Bay (South Africa): the API 4 index is an average of the Argus FOB Richards Bay 6,000 assessment and the McCloskey Richards Bay FOB marker, published weekly (Argus methodology).
Indonesia's HBA (Harga Batubara Acuan): set by Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources twice a month, in categories by calorific value, and based on actual coal sale prices over a recent shipment window; it is used to work out reference prices after adjusting for calorific value, moisture, sulphur and ash (ESDM).
Coal from Coal India's e-auctions is priced differently: bids are placed against the coal company's notified price for the grade, and the result is a premium over that price (CIL e-Auction Scheme 2022).
More detail
Benchmarks differ in quality basis — for example gross as received versus net as received — so two prices are only comparable after checking the specification each refers to.
A move in a benchmark is an observed fact; the reason for it (weather, demand in China or India, freight, supply disruption) is a separate claim that needs its own source. Coal Boss does not predict prices.
Common confusion
A benchmark in US dollars per tonne at a foreign port is not a landed price in India, and not directly comparable with a domestic e-auction premium.
What it means if you trade coal
If you buy imported coal, ask which benchmark and which quality basis a quote refers to, and work out the landed cost yourself. For current values, check the publisher's own page — not a forwarded screenshot.
Hinglish mein, short mein
Teen mashhoor international coal benchmark: Newcastle (ICE futures globalCOAL ke monthly NEWC index pe settle hote hain, US$/ton, Australia ke Newcastle ka coal), Richards Bay API 4 (Argus aur McCloskey ke Richards Bay FOB ka average, har hafte) aur Indonesia ka HBA (Indonesia ka energy mantralaya mahine mein do baar, calorific category ke hisaab se, asli bikri ke daam se tay karta hai). Inmein koi bhi India ka daam nahi — bhada, duty, handling alag. Main current daam nahi batata; publisher ka official page dekhiye.
Sources
- Benchmark publisherICE — Newcastle Coal Futures contract specification
- Benchmark publisherArgus — Argus/McCloskey's API 4 methodology
- OfficialIndonesia Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) — HBA announcement, 7 Aug 2026
- CompanyCoal India — CIL e-Auction Scheme 2022 (notice dated 15 May 2026)
Coal Boss explanation, based on the sources above.
