During the week ending December 4, import quotations in China have edged up slightly for premium hard coking coal and have remained stable for hard coking coal. As imports of Australian coking coal are still banned in China, the prices correspond to the levels from Canada and Russia. Prices for Australian coking coal have moved up gradually amid demand outside China.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from North America are at $170/mt CFR, up by $2/mt compared to last week. Prices for Russian hard coking coal have remained at $130/mt CFR.
The indicative price level for premium hard coking coal from Australia is at $115/mt CFR China, up $3/mt compared to last week. Ex-Australia hard coking coal prices are at $101/mt CFR, also $3/mt higher week on week.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 2,150/mt ($328/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to the previous week, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, Chinese coking plants’ capacity utilization rates have decreased amid production restrictions due to environmental protection measures, which supported coke prices. Meanwhile, demand from downstream steelmakers has been quite good, while the inventory of coke has continued to decrease. Traders have been unwilling to sell as they expect better prices. It is expected that coke prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move up in the coming week.
As of Friday, December 4, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 2,564/mt ($391.5/mt), increasing by RMB 114.5/mt ($17.5/mt) or 4.65 percent compared to November 27.
$1 = RMB 6.5507