With Chinese steelmakers remaining active in replenishing their coke inventories, Chinese cokeries have continued to target higher prices in coming bookings. Apart from that, higher production costs are reported to be another reason for the price hike. In the latest deal for ex-US premium hard coking coal, the Chinese customer accepted a price at $315/mt CFR, up $35/mt to the levels targeted by buyers in late November and up $5-10/mt from offers voiced by the supplier a week ago. Meanwhile, the major Russian coking coal supplier to China is reported to be already sold out for January despite an announcement of a price hike up to $20/mt compared to the previous levels. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, fresh offers for Inagli coking coal settled at $235-240/mt CFR China, with laycan not later than January 24, while offers for Deni Deep coking coal have settled at $240-245/mt CFR China.
On balance, metallurgical coke sellers in China have decided to test the market with higher offers this week. Consequently, the current first-grade coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 2,950/mt ($423.9/mt) ex-warehouse, moving up by RMB 110/mt ($15.8/mt) compared to December 2, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
Prices of coke in local markets in China
Product Name |
Specification |
Place of Origin |
Price（RMB/mt） |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly Change（RMB/mt） |
Weekly Change（$/mt） |
Coke |
First grade （A<13.0,S<0.75,CSR>65.0） |
Hancheng,Shaanxi |
2,940 |
422.5 |
+110.0 |
+21.3 |
Zibo ,Shandong |
3,080 |
442.6 |
+110.0 |
+21.6 |
||
Pingdingshan,Henan |
2,850 |
409.5 |
+110.0 |
+21.1 |
||
Tangshan |
2,930 |
421.0 |
+110.0 |
+21.3 |
||
Huaibei,Anhui |
2,950 |
423.9 |
+110.0 |
+21.3 |
||
Average |
2,950 |
423.9 |
+110.0 |
+21.3 |
All prices include 13 percent VAT.
As of Friday, December 9, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 2,934.5/mt ($422/mt), increasing by RMB 115.5/mt ($16.6/mt) or 4.1 percent compared to December 2. Meanwhile, the most traded futures for coking coal have settled at RMB 1.868/mt ($268/mt), down 15 percent from the levels last week.
$1 = RMB 6.9588