During the week ending February 5, import quotations in China have indicated minimal changes for premium hard coking coal and hard coking coal from Canada and Russia. At the same time, prices on FOB basis from Australia have declined as they still cannot enter China and sellers are redirecting the volumes of Australian coking coal to other countries.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are equivalent to $168/mt CFR China, down $5.5/mt from last week. The price is based on a spot trade of high quality Peak Downs hard coking coal at $157/mt FOB on February 3. Hard coking coal prices from Australia translate to $143/mt CFR, down $5/mt compared to the previous week.
Meanwhile, quotations of coking coal from Canada and Russia are at $217/mt CFR and $190/mt CFR, down $1/mt and remaining stable compared to last week, respectively.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 2,800/mt ($433/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to last week, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, Chinese coking plants’ capacity utilization rates have not indicated big changes, while their inventories have remained at relatively low levels. Currently, some steelmakers have been operating at a loss, which will exert a negative impact on their demand for coke. It is thought that coke prices in the Chinese domestic market will move sideways in the coming week.
As of Friday, February 5, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 2,551/mt ($394/mt), decreasing by RMB 3/mt ($0.46/mt) or 0.1 percent compared to January 29.
$1 = RMB 6.471