Chinese export metallurgical coke prices have been falling since the first working day of July, as result of flat purchases from steel mills on subdued demand.
Moreover, major coke plants in many areas like Tangshan and Handan cities of Hebei province in the north and Henan in central China were ordered to cut production. Also the country’s northern production base of Shanxi may see escalating environmental crackdown to curb operating rate at coke plants.
Furthermore, the Chinese government has currently ordered steel mills and coke producers in Tangshan – the world’s biggest steel producing city – to cut output further this summer.
Notably, Tangshan produced 91.2 MnT of crude steel in 2017, accounting for 11% of the country’s total steel output.
At this juncture, a decrease in future coke supply may be underway.
The drop in output will likely trigger some price growth.
Accordingly, Chinese met coke pricing might well be anticipated to bottom out following over one-month retreat.
On the pricing front, latest import offers for the 64% CSR met coke have plummeted to as low as USD 320/MT FOB China, down by about USD 14/MT than the rates that prevailed in the previous week.
Similarly, offers for the 62% CSR met coke has decreased to around USD 312/MT FOB China.
Source: CoalMint Research
For Indian buyers, these offers amount to USD 337/MT and USD 329/MT respectively on CNF India basis.
Nevertheless, India’s domestically produced met coke prices have remained unchanged for the last two months.
The current ex-works prices of the blast furnace grade are hovering around INR 26,000/MT (east coast) and between INR 27,000 and 28,000/MT (west coast).
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