During the week ending March 6, import coking coal quotations in China edged up first while moving down later in the week as more domestic production coal mines resumed production.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are now at $174/mt CFR China, rising by $3/mt compared to last week. Hard coking coal prices are at $154/mt CFR on March 6, up $0.5/mt week on week.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 1,800/mt ($260/mt) ex-warehouse, down by RMB 50/mt ($7.9/mt) compared to the previous week, according to SteelOrbis’ data. More coke producers have resumed production, with most of their capacity utilization rates returning to normal levels, resulting in increasing inventories in the coke market, negatively affecting coke prices. Meanwhile, steelmakers have been seeking to reduce purchase prices of coke due to their own high inventories of finished steel.
Coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RM6B 1,801/mt ($260/mt) on Friday, March 6, rosing by RMB 12/mt ($1.7/mt) or 0.7 percent compared to February 28.
$1 = RMB 6.9337
