- Met coke May’26 contract on DCE drops 2.8%
- Billet prices soften in Tangshan
Mysteel Global: Sentiment in China’s spot metallurgical coke market flattened again on January 27 after a temporary lift over the previous days, mirroring the lingered uncertainties over the market direction, Mysteel learned from sources.
On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the most-traded met coke contract for May delivery fell by 2.8% from Monday’s settlement price to 1,668/tonne ($243/t) when closing Tuesday’s daytime trading session.
The decline came with new concerns among some market players about the results of coke producers’ lengthy price negotiations with steelmakers, market sources noted.
The concerns followed broad declines in steel prices yesterday as steel transactions underperformed, with some players starting to worry about steelmakers’ potentially tougher resistance to the coke price hike following a prolonged muted response, sources reported.
According to Mysteel’s assessment, the price of Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province, dropped Yuan 20/t from the previous day to Yuan 2,930/t on Tuesday.
While previous rumours said that steelmakers might agree to pay Yuan 50-55/t more for met coke products by the end of this month, participants are still waiting for further confirmation as no mills have issued official notices as of Wednesday morning.
Market analysts, however, predicted that the hike would take effect eventually, citing supportive factors such as resilient coking coal prices and continued replenishment from steelmakers, as reported.
Meanwhile, adverse weather conditions may also offer some support to coke makers during negotiations, as snowfalls are set to sweep vast swathes of China’s northern regions over the next three days, causing potential disruptions for coke deliveries to mills, a Shanxi-based analyst noted.
On Tuesday, Mysteel assessed China’s quasi-first-grade met coke prices, for wet-quenching and dry-quenching types respectively, at Yuan 1,381.7/t and Yuan 1,515.1/t including the 13% VAT, both flat from the previous session.
The same day, Mysteel assessed the first-grade met coke (ash 12.5%, sulfur 0.65%, CSR 65%, MT 7%) price at Yuan 1,550/t on an ex-stock basis at Qingdao port in East China’s Shandong province with VAT, down Yuan 10/t from the previous day.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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