During the week ending July 31, import premium hard coking coal quotations in China have moved up slightly amid some lower supply and still seen demand from India. At the same time, worries about limitations of imports shipments by the end of the year still persisted in China.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are at $124/mt CFR China, increasing by $3/mt compared to last week. Hard coking coal prices are at $99/mt CFR, moving down by $1/mt week on week.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 1,800/mt ($257.5/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to the previous week, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, coke output decreased amid environmental protection measures implemented in some regions, though those measures will end by the end of August. Coking producers’ inventory of coke has decreased slightly, providing certain support to coke prices. However, steelmakers’ inventory of coke has been at relatively high level, thereby they have mostly held a wait-and-see stance towards prospect for the future coke market. It is thought that coke prices will likely continue the stable trend in the coming week.
As of Friday, July 31, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 1,991/mt ($285/mt), increasing by RMB 12/mt ($1.7/mt) compared to July 24.
$1 = RMB 6.9848
