In mid-September (September 11-20) this year, the average prices in China of coking coal and second-grade metallurgical coke were recorded at RMB 1,250.0/mt ($176.7/mt) and RMB 1,735.8/mt ($245.4/mt) respectively, as announced by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), decreasing by RMB 28.6/mt ($4.0/mt) and RMB 5.7/mt ($0.8/mt), or down 2.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, compared to prices in early September (September 1-10).
In early September, the prices of coking coal and coke decreased by 1.6 percent and 7.3 percent compared to those in late August (August 21-31).
In the mid-September period, Chinese steelmakers were unwilling to build up inventories of coke as their inventories were at medium or rather high levels. Coking plants’ coke inventories were at relatively low levels, while their capacity utilization rates were on the high side, resulting in sufficient supply to the market and exerting a negative impact on coke prices.