Seaborne coking coal prices edge up but remain rangebound

Prices edged up but remained largely rangebound as bearish sentiment persisted in the seaborne spot coking coal market on Tuesday November 19.

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Steel First’s daily index for premium hard coking coal cfr Jingtang was calculated at $142.58 per tonne, down by $1.01 on the day.

Hard coking coal prices cfr Jingtang moved slightly higher and were calculated at $142.58 per tonne, up by $0.23 on the day.

Premium hard coking coal prices fob DBCT (Australia) were calculated at $142.83 per tonne on Tuesday, up by $0.86 from levels seen on Monday.

Hard coking coal fob DBCT was calculated at $127.07 fob per tonne, up by $0.39 per tonne on the day.

One mill source and one trading source said tht they would consider top Australian brands only at prices in the low $150s per tonne cfr China. “I’m bearish on the market until the end of this year,” the Shanghai-based trading source told Steel First.

There are abundant supplies in the market and fairly well-stocked buyers, while steel mills and coking plants have no cash in hand as banks are tightening credit, he added.

The sources are not expecting winter restocking to happen any time soon.

“I don’t think I’m going to book cargoes these days. I feel the market is going down and I want to wait a while longer,” a Rizhao-based trader said.

The most-traded May hard coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at 1,126 yuan ($184) per tonne on Tuesday, up from 1,116 yuan ($182) per tonne a day earlier.

The most-traded May coke contract closed at 1,618 yuan ($264) per tonne on Tuesday, also up from Monday’s 1,593 yuan ($260) per tonne.