During the week ending May 29, import premium hard coking coal quotations in China have moved down amid uncertainty regarding customs clearance due to expectations that the quota for imports will be lowered soon.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are at $119/mt CFR China, decreasing by $7/mt compared to last week. Hard coking coal prices are at $99/mt CFR, moving sideways week on week.
At the same time, coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 1,800/mt ($252.5/mt) ex-warehouse, moving up by RMB 50/mt ($7.1/mt) compared to the previous week, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, coking plants’ capacity utilization rates have increased, while there have been 30-50 percent production curbs in some regions (for instance, in Shandong Province), decreasing the supply of coke in the regions in question and bolstering prices. Meanwhile, the inventory levels of coke have decreased, signaling good demand from downstream users. Moreover, steelmakers’ capacity utilization rates have risen and so they have been more willing to conclude purchases of coke, thus providing support for coke prices. It is expected that coke prices in the Chinese domestic market will edge up further.
As of Friday, May 29, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 1,877/mt ($263.3/mt), increasing by RMB 68/mt ($9.5/mt) or 3.8 percent compared to May 22.
$1 = RMB 7.1316