During the week ending February 24, average metallurgical coke prices in the Chinese domestic market have mostly indicated a downward movement, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at low-to-medium levels. As of February 24, coke futures contract (1705) offers at Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at RMB 1,716/mt ($250/mt), up $3/mt week on week. Average coke prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, market sentiment has weakened in the past week against the backdrop of the correction seen in prices of finished and semi-finished steel in the Chinese domestic market. Coking plants have been eager to sell and so have lowered their prices in the spot market. Meanwhile, steelmakers have not been so willing to buy and have limited their purchases in order to push down coke prices, resulting in slack transaction activity in the given week. It is thought that coke prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue to move down further in the week ahead.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Coke | Second grade | Hancheng, Shaanxi | 1,600 | 233 | 0 |
Zibo, Shandong | 1,650 | 240 | ↓70 | ||
Pingdingshan, Henan | 1,700 | 247 | ↓50 | ||
Tangshan | 1,700 | 247 | ↓80 | ||
Huaibei, Anhui | 1,800 | 262 | ↓80 | ||
Average | 1,690 | 246 | ↓56 |
17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.87