China's met coke prices face downward pressure

The national composite coke under Mysteel's assessment was unchanged on day at Yuan 1,998.8/tonne ($275.8/t) including VAT on Thursday.

Thanks to a recent pullback in coking coal prices, coke firms enjoyed a slight improvement in their profit margins. Mysteel's survey among 30 merchant coke producers nationwide showed that as of June 6, they were earning Yuan 32/t when selling met coke, higher by Yuan 2/t on week.

On the contrary, some steelmakers slipped into losses with steel prices falling constantly over the past days, as the steel demand was tepid after the seasonal lull in summer started, sources said.

"The worsened profitability has caused some steel mills to weigh the possibility of seeking profits from coke firms by asking for a cut in coke prices," a market watcher said.

However, such a price cut demand is still brewing, and before it becomes a reality, coke firms will continue to maintain stable production to enjoy the profits, Mysteel Global noted. Over May 30-June 5, daily coke output of the 230 independent coke makers under Mysteel's tracking averaged 537,100 tonnes/day, up by a tiny 0.7% on week, Mysteel's data show.

At Rizhao and Qingdao ports in East China's Shandong province, coke stocks totalled 1.62 million tonnes as of June 6, up 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.