On Friday, November 18, coke prices (main contract J1701) at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) opened the day at RMB 2,060/mt and closed at RMB 2,010/mt, which was down 1.54 percent compared to the previous day’s settlement price of RMB 2,042/mt. Also at DCE, iron ore futures prices (main contract I1701) opened at RMB 580/mt and closed at RMB 551/mt, down 2.22 percent compared to the previous day’s settlement price of RMB 564/mt.
Meanwhile, on November 18, rebar futures prices (main contract RB1701) at Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) opened at RMB 2,824/mt and closed at RMB 2,772/mt, declining by 0.47 percent from the settlement price of RMB 2,785/mt on November 17. Hot rolled coil (HRC) futures prices (main contract HC1701) at SHFE opened the day at RMB 3,222/mt and closed at RMB 3,179/mt, down 0.19 percent from the previous day’s settlement price of RMB 3,185/mt.
Coking coal prices (main contract JM1701) at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) opened on November 18 at RMB 1,566/mt and closed at RMB 1,485/mt, down 4.13 percent from the previous day’s settlement price of RMB 1,549/mt. Thermal coal prices (main contract ZC701) at Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) opened at RMB 611.4/mt and closed at RMB 597.8/mt, down 2.70 percent from the settlement price of RMB 614.4/mt on November 17.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has decided to encourage medium and long-term coal supply contracts between coal producers and buyers in order to maintain the stability of coal prices and of the market. Accordingly, previous concerns regarding tight supply have been eased and so players in the futures market have become less bullish as regards the prospects for the price trend in the futures market. Futures prices of coke, iron ore, rebar and hot rolled coil futures ended with declines on the last trading day of the current week, which may have some influence on the trend of the finished steel market in the coming period.
Note: The percentage change is based on a comparison of the closing price with the settlement price of the previous trading day.