Chinese Met Coke Prices Remain Firm on Strong Buying Interest

Seaborne metallurgical coke prices stay at elevated levels for a third week in a row on the back of strong demand after a week-long Lunar New year holiday break. Chinese coke producers have chosen to keep the prices high on favorable market sentiments.

Chinese domestic met coke prices have retained the uptrend since market participants returned from the Lunar New Year holidays and continue to remain firm after the initial increase. However, a second round of uptick is still expected by major Chinese coke producers due to recent strengthening of domestic coking coal prices on government's stricter safety checks.

Moreover, Tangshan City issued an emergency response last week to combat air pollution. Coking hours have been extended to 28 hours for category A coke plants, and 36 hours for category B coke plants, effective last week, according to sources. This may help retain prices at heightened levels for time being.

Chinese Met Coke Exports

Chinese met coke export market has also witnessed favourable buying interest from the international market. However, international buyers are not able to soak up the high Chinese met coke prices, owing to seaborne metallurgical coke prices continuously inching up since last week.

According to few traders, material containing Chinese 64%/62% coke was offered at USD 360/MT FOB China, but the buyers' tradable value was placed at USD 345/MT FOB China, resulting in back-stepping of buyers.

India, being the largest importer of Chinese met coke have imported 52,730 MT in the month of Jan'19. However, Indian met coke imports from China remained at 2.2 MnT in CY 2018.

Price Assessments

Chinese met coke export prices for the 64% CSR and the 62% CSR grades are currently assessed at around USD 345/MT and USD 360/MT FOB China respectively, both grades having increased by USD 2/MT from the rates that prevailed in the last week (25 Feb-03 Mar'19).

Indian met coke import prices have also seen a gradual increase of around USD 2-3/MT. For the 64% CSR and the 62% CSR grades prices are at around USD 373/MT and USD 359/MT respectively on CNF India basis.