Foundry Coke (Cupola Coke)

Cupola coke 80–150 mm by ash, sulphur, M40 and fixed carbon

Foundry coke is the coke that sits in the cupola in direct contact with the iron, so it is specified on the melt's behalf rather than the furnace's. Size comes first: analyses of cupola practice put the piece size for cupolas over 1.2 m in diameter above 80 mm and up to 150 mm, and the Polish oven at Wałbrzych that leads the European trade describes its product as special foundry coke with granulation above 100 mm; a lump that is too small burns too fast and lets the coke bed collapse, one that is too large bridges. Then chemistry, because the melt picks up whatever the coke gives off: producers' published sheets run ash at 8% maximum, sulphur at 0.5% maximum and fixed carbon at 86% minimum, with a super grade at 90% fixed carbon, 1.5% volatile matter and 0.5% sulphur, and the tighter sheets add phosphorus. Strength is the third leg: the GOST 3340-88 foundry-coke standard, still the frame most CIS and Eastern European buyers use, normalises five indicators — total moisture, ash, total sulphur, M40 drum strength and the fraction under 40 mm — and a buyer who writes M40 into the contract gets a coke that survives the charge drop. Foundry coke is not a size cut of blast-furnace coke; it is coked from a lower-volatile blend over a longer cycle, which is why the merchant tonnage is small and the price sits above blast-furnace grades. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 2704 rank the four origins on this page: China 8.31 million MT at an average USD 230/MT, Poland 5.88 million MT at USD 359, Indonesia 5.56 million MT at USD 274 and Colombia 3.96 million MT at USD 276; India's 2025 import declarations put Polish coke at USD 339/MT CIF against Chinese at USD 230 and Colombian at USD 262, and the Polish premium is the foundry and premium share of that book.

The buyer is a grey-iron or ductile-iron foundry running a cupola, a stone-wool or mineral-wool plant melting basalt in a cupola, or a trader supplying either, and the enquiry is a container lot or a few hundred tonnes a month, not a Panamax. Our own ledger shows the shape of it: cast-iron foundries and cupola-fed stone-wool plants in Pakistan, India and Turkiye, and the traders who supply them, are the counterparties that ask for foundry coke by name. China's coke, including semi-coke under HS 2704, is on the Ministry of Commerce list of goods subject to export licence administration (43 export goods in the 2026 catalogue), so a Chinese offer carries a licensed exporter behind it or it does not ship. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers foundry coke from Chinese, Colombian, Polish and Indian ovens and trader positions against SGS or Intertek certification of ash, sulphur, fixed carbon, volatile matter, moisture, phosphorus, M40/M10 drum strength and screened size distribution at the load point, on the foundry's own sheet. Lots are structured in 1 MT jumbo bags in 20-foot containers for the 50–500 MT enquiry, breakbulk or bulk Handysize for the larger consumer, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms; because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), the freight leg on a breakbulk lot is quoted alongside the coke. Send your size band, ash and sulphur ceilings, M40 floor and monthly tonnage and we will work the oven to it.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices coal and petcoke bulk freight on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.