Latest situation in local Chinese coke market

During the week ending May 18, metallurgical coke prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen an overall upward trend, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at medium levels. As of May 18, coke futures contract (1809) offers at Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at RMB 2,088/mt ($328/mt), up $2/mt compared to the previous week. Average coke prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.  

During the given week, inventories in the domestic coke market have continued to decrease. Downstream users have been willing to conclude purchases of coke, and coking plants’ profitability has improved. Coking plants have been seeking to push up their ex-works prices for coke. Meanwhile, demand for coke will likely improve further as blast furnaces’ capacity utilization rates are increasing due to good profitability on the steelmakers’ side. Moreover, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange have increased, which will exert a positive impact on coke prices in the spot market. It is thought that coke prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move up further in the coming week.

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

$1 = RMB 6.38