Slight price decline in China’s coke market

Over the past week China's metallurgical coke market has witnessed a general softening trend. Currently, with mills continuing to lower their purchase prices for coke, the coking companies have been incurring greater losses. In contrast, China's metallurgical coke exports surged up strongly in April compared to March.

In the past week China's coking coal market has maintained its softening trend, with a slight price decline observed in some regions. The mainstream quotations of second grade metallurgical coke from large scale producers in Shanxi Province have declined to RMB 1,730-1,780/mt ($254-261/mt), with quotations for first grade metallurgical coke decreasing to RMB 1,850-1,950/mt ($271-286/mt), both down RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, the purchase prices of Hebei Province-based mills are around RMB 1,900-1,950/mt ($276-286/mt) for second grade metallurgical coke, also down RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) week on week. The mainstream prices in the eastern China coke market have remained at RMB 2,000/mt ($293/mt). In addition, the mainstream prices of coking coal in the overall domestic market are unchanged in the range of RMB 1,450-1,550/mt ($212-227/mt).

In line with the downward trend observed in China's steel market over the past month, most steelmakers have slowed down their purchases of raw materials including coke. The stagnation in the steel mills' purchase activities has led to increased inventories at most coking companies. Since the coking companies are caught in the middle between the high price of coking coal and the sluggishness of the steel markets, it is thought that the coking companies will very likely limit their production activity further.

In April, China exported 239,100 mt of coke, up 441.17 percent month on month, generating an export value of $94,743,660, increasing by 422.65 percent month on month. During the first four months of this year, China exported a total of 375,000 mt of coke, up 103.8 percent year on year.