Latest situation in local Chinese coke market

During the week ending October 23, metallurgical coke prices in the Chinese domestic market have mostly indicated a stable trend, though seeing a slight downtrend in Shaanxi Province, while transaction activity in the overall market has been better than in the previous week and is at decent levels. As of October 23, coke futures contract (1601) offers at Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at RMB 741.5/mt ($116/mt), remaining almost unchanged week on week. Average coke prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the table below.
 
During the given week, domestic steelmakers have stepped up their coke purchases, providing a certain degree of support for coke prices. However, steelmakers state that they have plans to cut their outputs, thereby trying to exert downward pressure on coke prices. At the same time, some coke producers have already reduced their production capacity utilization due to poor profitability, and so the reduced outputs will likely provide some support for coke prices. It is thought that coke prices will likely move on a downtrend in the coming week as more steelmakers will seek lower coke prices.

17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.

$1 = RMB 6.36