Suppliers of Canadian coking coal are in a wait-and-see position in the middle of August. Most of high-quality material has been booked until November, and therefore availability of the coal in the market is currently limited. Nominal quotations are being still formed within the range of USD 30-135/MT FOB.
In China, the government's infrastructure improvement policy is one of the reasons for positive changes in the finished products sector and growth of demand for metallurgical raw materials. Thus, stocks of coal in China's ports have somewhat decreased to a total of 7.5MT.
Quotations of domestically produced coal and coke have stabilized and in some provinces a rise in prices for medium-quality coke (up some RMB 30/MT) and high-quality material (up RMB 50/MT) has been noted. The interest of Chinese steelmakers in coal imports is increasing because local market is overloaded with low-quality product.
Korean buyers have entered the spot market in search of extra shipments of second-choice material to be blended and are considering cooperation with one of Canadian producers. Meantime, some coal mining companies are receiving bids from traders but are refraining from making deals in a hope that prices might increase closer to October. Brazilian consumers are also interested in Canadian-origin coal and are likely to start negotiations shortly.
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