During the week ending June 5, import hard coking coal quotations in China have moved down amid uncertainty regarding customs clearance and increasing shipments of Australian coal.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are at $118/mt CFR China, decreasing by $1/mt compared to last week. Hard coking coal prices are at $98/mt CFR, declining also by $1/mt.
At the same time, the situation in the local coke market in China has been positive. Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 1,800/mt ($253.5/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to the previous week, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, coking plants’ capacity utilization rates have decreased slightly due to production curbs. Shandong Province has announced that coke output in the province cannot exceed 32 million mt for the whole year of 2020, representing a drop of 35 percent year on year, which will decrease the supply of coke for the rest of the year significantly and will bolster coke prices. Meanwhile, steelmakers’ demand for coke is expected to be good, which will exert a positive impact on coke prices.
As of Friday, June 5, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 1,954/mt ($263.3/mt), increasing by RMB 77/mt ($11.0/mt) or 4.1 percent compared to May 29.
$1 = RMB 7.0965