During the week ending April 17, import hard coking coal quotations in China have moved down due to the slack demand in the global market amid sufficient supply, but overall firm purchases from China have prevented prices from declining sharply.
Hard coking coal prices in China are currently at $125/mt CFR, down by $2.5/mt week on week. Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Australia are at $143/mt CFR China.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 1,650/mt ($233.3/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 continued to edge up amid a loosening of environmental protection policies. Meanwhile, coking plants’ profitability has improved. At the same time, inventory of coke on the coking plants’ side has decreased, indicating good demand from steelmakers. However, rumors have indicated that there will be production cuts in Tangshan, which will exert a negative impact on coke prices, and so cautious sentiment still prevails among traders.
As of Friday, April 17, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 1,730/mt ($227.5/mt), decreasing by RMB 12.5/mt ($1.8/mt) or 0.7 percent compared to April 10.
$1 = RMB 7.0718
