During the given week, coke prices in the Chinese domestic market have remained stable. However, the decreasing trend in the steel market and weak transaction activities have encouraged steelmakers to seek opportunities to cut their production costs, in particular coke prices, more decisively. As sentiments among market insiders remain mostly bearish, it is not excluded that next week coke suppliers will accept lower prices. Furthermore, support for coke prices has weakened amid the ongoing downturn in the coking coal market. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, Russian coking suppliers have remained highly flexible in negotiations with Chinese customers, having limited alternatives to do business with other business partners due to Western sanctions.
Accordingly, first-grade coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 2,820/mt ($412.5/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to March 17, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
Prices of coke in local markets in China
|
Product Name |
Specification |
Place of Origin |
Price（RMB/mt） |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly Change（RMB/mt） |
Weekly Change（$/mt） |
|
Coke |
First grade （A<13.0,S<0.75,CSR>65.0） |
Hancheng, Shaanxi |
2,830 |
413.9 |
0.0 |
+4.1 |
|
Zibo, Shandong |
2,970 |
434.4 |
0.0 |
+4.3 |
||
|
Pingdingshan, Henan |
2,740 |
400.8 |
0.0 |
+3.9 |
||
|
Tangshan |
2,820 |
412.5 |
0.0 |
+4.1 |
||
|
Huaibei, Anhui |
2,840 |
415.4 |
0.0 |
+4.1 |
||
|
Average |
2,840 |
415.4 |
0.0 |
+4.1 |
All prices include 13 percent VAT.
As of Friday, March 24, coking coal futures at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have settled at RMB 1,858.5/mt ($272/mt), down 0.85 percent week on week. Meanwhile, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 2,736/mt ($400/mt), decreasing by RMB 48.5/mt ($7.1/mt) or 1.7 percent compared to March 17.
$1 = RMB 6.8374