China's domestic coke market maintained an overall stability during the past week. On account of the tight supply in some individual regions, some coking enterprises hiked their ex-factory prices slightly. Looking at the current situation, the domestic coke market will continue its weak fluctuating movement in the short term.
Product name |
Specification |
Place of origin |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Average price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
Coke |
2nd grade |
Shanxi |
1,450 |
- |
213 |
- |
Shanghai |
1,550 |
- |
227 |
- |
The Chinese domestic coke market retained its general stability throughout the past week. At present, the mainstream quotations of second grade coke from large producers in Shanxi Province are in the range of RMB 1,400-1,500/mt ($206-220/mt), while the prices of coke in Huaibei, Anhui Province are around RMB 1,450-1,600/mt ($220-234/mt). Meanwhile, the purchase prices of second grade coke announced by mills in Hebei have been raised to RMB 1,550/mt ($227/mt). In addition, the ex-factory prices of coking coal in the Taiyuan area remain constant at RMB 1,100-1,200/mt ($162-176/mt).
Over the past week the Chinese coke market was characterized by an overall stability, with no further decrease observed in the various regions. In Hebei Province, affected by the tight availability of coke supply, some local coking enterprises even raised their quotations slightly by RMB 30/mt. Although the increase range is small, it has surely boosted the confidence of coke producers. In addition, inquiries from mills have begun to rise in recent days, though this does not mean that a fundamental change has taken place in coke demand from the finished steel market. The minor rebound in the recent finished steel market would appear to be just a temporary correction; and since mills had suspended their purchases and currently have very little stock left following a certain period of consumption, the time has come now for them to make purchases again. As a result, coking enterprises cannot be too optimistic and are likely to continue their production cuts.
According to the plan for restructuring and invigorating the coking industry in Shanxi which was published recently, the total coke production capacity in the province will be reduced to below 140 million mt by the end of 2011, and this figure will be further cut down to 120 million mt by the year 2015.