In the past week, metallurgical coke prices in the areas of Pingdingshan and Huaibei in China have declined slightly, by RMB 50/mt ($7.9/mt), while prices in other areas have remained unchanged. Transaction activity has improved somewhat. The main coke futures contract (1201) price at Dalian Commodity Exchange has fallen slightly week on week, closing at RMB 1, 969/mt ($311/mt).
As of December 23, average Chinese second grade metallurgical coke spot prices in the main local markets have declined by $3.5-4/mt week on week to $303/mt. Coke prices in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
The main reasons for the softening in coke prices in Pingdingshan and Huaibei are as follows: firstly, coke has been at higher prices (partly due to better quality) in these areas, and the decline in prices has narrowed the price gap with other areas; secondly, at the end of the year coking plants are decreasing coke prices as they seek to lower their inventories. As a result, transaction activity has seen an improvement.
It is expected that prices in the Chinese coke market will follow a sideways trend in the week ahead.