As the largest steelmaking country in the world, China is now facing a shortage of metallurgical coke, one of the main raw materials in steelmaking. A top official of the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association has said that, due to the supply shortage in the domestic market, the Chinese mills will increase their coke imports from other countries, which may lead to competition with Japan, another major producer of steel in Asia.
The secretary general of the Hebei Coking Industry Association, Zhang Bochun, has commented that, as domestic suppliers fail to meet the demand from Chinese mills for coke, it is inevitable that the mills will seek to import this raw material and will compete with foreign steel companies in this area.
China is currently the second largest coke importer in the world, only after Japan. It is estimated that China's coke imports in 2010 will rise by 5.6 percent to 38 million mt, while Japan's coke imports may grow 14 percent to 58 million mt. In addition, coke imports to South Korea are likely to jump up by 17 percent to 21 million mt next year. As international financial conglomerate Citigroup has predicted, coke prices in the Chinese market will probably increase by 14 percent in 2010.