The domestic coking coal market in China was quiet last week amid tighter supplies in the market. Guanggang and Sangang raised their coke purchasing prices with a hike of $4.6-7.7/mt. The latest major coke contract rose to $357.7/mt in the futures market, with a $9.5/mt increase week on week. Looking downstream, rebar futures saw a sharp fall to $734.5/mt as of the end of last week. China's metallurgical coke market may be affected by the rationing of electricity and the tightness of coking coal supplies. For the short term, the coke market is expected to see some downward price adjustments.
Coke spot market prices in China were unchanged last week as compared to the previous week. The average price of second grade coke remained at $297/mt. Meanwhile, at the end of last week second grade coke was offered at $314/mt in the Shanghai market and at $299/mt in the Huaibei market.
The Chinese central bank has again raised the deposit reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage points, effective as of May 18. This is expected to freeze $56.75 billion dollars in capital. Coke prices in China are expected to decline slightly in the current week.