Despite some rise in buying interest, trading in the import coking coal segment in China has been muted this week. The main reason is the low attractiveness of import material compared to that available in the domestic market. In particular, an ex-Canada offer for 85,000 mt of mid-volatility premium hard coking coal at $550/mt CFR China has failed to attract any interest. Last week, ex-US hard coking Blue Creek coal, for May loading, was available at $575/mt CFR China. No trading has been reported for ex-Russia coking coal either. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, the Russian government has announced its intention to impose some restrictions on coking coal exports, aiming to reduce prices in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, Chinese steelmakers have accepted the latest price increase of RMB 200/mt ($31/mt) for coking coke, being under pressure from depleted inventories. On balance, the current coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 4,070/mt ($631/mt) ex-warehouse.
On the contrary, sentiments in the futures market have worsened this week. As of Friday, April 22, coking coal futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have decreased by 4.8 percent over the past week, to RMB 3,000.5/mt ($462/mt). Meanwhile, coke futures have declined by 9.2 percent during the week to RMB 3,830/mt ($594/mt).
$1 = RMB 6.4596