During the week ending April 9, import coking coal quotations in China have been under pressure from weak demand. There are still a limited number of offers, mainly from North and South America, Russia and Africa, while the ban on Australian imports in China is likely to continue up to the end of the third quarter.
Quotations of premium hard coking coal from Canada are at $215.5/mt CFR, edging down by $0.5/mt from last week, while prices for lower quality coking coal from Russia have remained at $164/mt CFR.
Ex-Australia premium hard coking coal prices have showed some decline as demand from other countries has been poor. They are equivalent to $130.5/mt CFR China, down $2.5/mt compared to last week. Hard coking coal prices from Australia translate to $115/mt CFR China, down $2/mt compared to the previous week.
Coke prices in Tangshan are at RMB 2,000/mt ($306/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways compared to April 2, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
During the given week, coking producers’ capacity utilization rates have declined slightly amid production restrictions in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province, though remaining at relatively high levels. In recent weeks, traders and downstream users have been more willing to conclude purchases for coke, supporting prices. Finished steel prices have indicated big rises, resulting in better profitability on the steelmakers’ side, which will likely exert a positive impact on coke prices in the near future.
As of Friday, April 9, coke futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) are at RMB 2,366.5/mt ($362/mt), decreasing by RMB 19/mt ($2.9/mt) or 0.8 percent compared to April 2.
$1 = RMB 6.5409
