Chinese coke market looks set to rise

The Chinese coke market has generally moved on a stable trend over the past week, though an upward movement is very likely in the coming days. Since heavy snowfalls have almost fully blocked transportation in the north, market quotations of both coking coal and coke in this region have shown signs of rising.

China's domestic coke market has remained at its previous levels throughout the past week. At present, the mainstream quotations of second grade coke from large producers in Shanxi Province are at the level of RMB 1,550/mt ($230/mt), while Hebei Province-based mills have issued purchase prices at around RMB 1,600-1,650/mt ($234-242/mt) for second grade coke. Meanwhile, the mainstream prices in the eastern coke market are at RMB 1,700/mt ($249/mt). In addition, the mainstream prices of coking coal in the domestic market have remained unchanged in the range of RMB 1,200-1,250/mt ($176-183/mt).

Following the heavy snowfalls in the northern regions, coke prices in Shanxi Province and Hebei Province again seem ready to rise. Due to blocked transportation, Shanxi Province-based coking enterprises only have limited coking coal stocks, with some enterprises in the province now only possessing enough supplies for three days of operations. In this context, some coal mines have tried to raise their coal prices, also in order to offset the increased transportation costs. If coking coal prices climb up, coke producers will have to face even greater cost pressure. Moreover, the heavy snowfalls have also affected the coke purchases of the mills. In Hebei Province, highways have been closed for five consecutive days, resulting in a continuous decline in coke inventories at various mills, which now urgently need coke. Looking at the current situation, although players are waiting to see how the market develops, it is generally believed that coke prices will observe a moderate rise in the near future.

China's coke output continued to rise in October, reaching 31.5319 million mt, up 9.2723 million mt or 41.7 percent year on year. Meanwhile, national coke output for the January-October period reached 285.0037 million mt, up 13.0046 million mt or 4.8 percent year on year.