China: Outlook for met coke market improves, futures strong
...
Mysteel Global: Coke demand price trading- The metallurgical coke market in China remained stable on July 15. Market insiders said that the outlook for the market showed some signs of improvement yesterday, as steel price rebounds had boosted market sentiment temporarily.
For example, coke futures gained some upward steam on the first trading day this week, with the most-traded contract for September delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closing the day at Yuan 2,290/tonne ($314.8/t), higher by 2.3% from the settlement price of Friday.
This came as the country's steel prices showed some signs of recovering at the beginning of this week, with China's national HRB400E 20mm dia rebar price rising by Yuan 26/t on day to Yuan 3,634/t as of July 15 and including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
This would likely encourage Chinese steelmakers to keep their hot metal production at current levels, thus cementing their demand for steelmaking ingredients in the near term, a survey respondent predicted.
"Moreover, some steel mills are operating with quite low coke stocks, so that they are still keen on replenishing the material these days," a Shanxi-based analyst said.
On the supply side, most coke producers were operating at stable paces driven by some profits that they could still earn on coke sales. Mysteel's survey indicated average profits of coke producers in North China's Shanxi province on selling dry-quenching quasi-first-grade met coke kept largely unchanged on day at Yuan 85/t.
On July 15, China's national composite coke price under Mysteel's assessment was unchanged from last Friday at 1,965.4/t including VAT.
China's portside coke market stayed relatively strong amid improved sentiment on Monday. Some traders raised their offers for first-grade and quasi-first-grade met coke by Yuan 40/t for domestic coastal steel mills, though inquiries stayed sparse. At Rizhao and Qingdao ports in East China's Shandong province, coke stocks totalled 1.47 million tonnes as of July 15, down by 20,000 tonnes on week, Mysteel's tracking data show.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
