Today, November 15, coke prices (main contract J1701) at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) indicated a significant decline, opening the day at RMB 2,176/mt and closing at RMB 1,977/mt, down a total of 8.56 percent during the day. Also at DCE, iron ore futures prices (main contract I1701) opened at RMB 626/mt and closed at RMB 591/mt, declining by 5.97 percent.
Meanwhile, on November 15, rebar futures prices (main contract RB1701) at Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) opened at RMB 2,950/mt and closed at RMB 2,858/mt, down 6.02 percent. Hot rolled coil (HRC) futures prices (main contract HC1701) at SHFE opened the day at RMB 3,350/mt and closed at RMB 3,217/mt, down 6.02 percent.
Significant decreases have also been observed in the futures prices of two other commodities. Coking coal prices (main contract JM1701) at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) opened on November 15 at RMB 1,635/mt and closed at RMB 1,510/mt, down 5.89 percent, while thermal coal prices (main contract ZC701) at Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) opened at RMB 648.6/mt and closed at RMB 629.6/mt, down 3.49 percent during the course of the day.
With the strong decreases seen in ferrous metal futures prices in China on November 15, particularly in the afternoon trading session, futures prices of several commodities, e.g., iron ore, rebar and hot rolled coil (HRC) reached their maximum daily decrease limit.
Recently, Dalian Commodity Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange issued some new policies; for instance, raising transaction fees and increasing minimum trade security deposits, as part of efforts to curb speculative trading activity. Meanwhile, after the large increases already seen in ferrous metal futures prices, market participants were prepared to see downward corrections in the futures market as no market can continue to increase indefinitely.