China's domestic metallurgical coke market followed a stable trend in the past week. There is still a shortage of high quality coking coal, which causes prices to remain at high levels. Steel mills are less inclined to purchase coke because of the weaknesses seen in steel product prices. After fluctuating for a long time, the main coke contract (J1109) at Dalian Commodity Exchange picked up from Wednesday last week, and indicated a $10.2/mt rise week on week at the end of last week.
Coke prices in local markets in China
Product name |
Specification |
Place of Origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Coke |
Second grade |
Hancheng, Shaanxi |
1,800 |
278 |
0 |
Zibo, Shandong |
1,900 |
294 |
0 |
||
Pingdingshan, Henan |
1,980 |
306 |
0 |
||
Shanghai |
2,050 |
317 |
0 |
||
Huaibei, Anhui |
1,950 |
301 |
0 |
||
Average |
1,936 |
299 |
0 |
Second grade coke maintained unchanged prices last week in the main markets in China, with the average price in China reported at $299/mt. Second grade coke is offered at $317/mt in the Shanghai market and at $301/mt in the Huaibei market.
China's central bank raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points effective as of July 7, increasing financing difficulties for coke companies. Steel mills have been cutting prices for July and orders from end-users have declined. In the meantime, traders are cautious about purchasing coke. July is expected to be a difficult month for the steel industry. Steel mills are keeping their coke and coking coal inventories at low levels.
On the other hand, although domestic coke prices are unchanged in the spot market, coke prices have risen gradually at Chinese ports. Coke is now offered at $359/mt at Tianjin port and $337/mt at Lianyun port. As coke enterprises do not accept cuts in purchasing prices by steel mills and given the high coking coal prices, there will be support for coke prices in China in the coming period.