Asian seaborne hard coking coal market quiet as price standoff continues

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Steel First’s premium hard coking coal index for material sold on a cfr Jingtang basis was calculated at $124.68 per tonne, up by $0.72 from Friday’s level.

The cfr Jingtang hard coking coal index also went up by $0.27 to stand at $114.77 per tonne.

The premium hard coking coal index for material sold on an fob DBCT basis was down by $0.10 to $116.37 per tonne. The hard coking coal number stood at $103.26, also down by $0.71 per tonne.

Sentiment in China was weak, however, as the price of steel billet in Tangshan dropped by 40 yuan ($6) per tonne over the weekend to 2,850 yuan ($463) per tonne ex-works including VAT, and two major steelmakers made prices cuts.

Shagang lowered its list prices for long steel products by 50-60 yuan ($8-10) per tonne for mid-May, while Baosteel cut those for its June delivery flat steel products by 50-100 yuan ($8-16) per tonne.

“The market is still not clear at the moment. I hope it gets better but it’s hard to be better. Domestic coal prices would still be one of the factors affecting seaborne prices,” a trading source told Steel First.

Kailuan Group has raised its coking coal prices by 10-20 yuan ($2-3) for sales in the Tangshan region, but Shanxi Coking Coal kept its May prices unchanged from those in April. Sources said that an increase of 10-20 yuan ($2-3) per tonne would not have much effect on the market.

Seaborne offers remain limited as miners were unwilling to sell at lower prices. Buyers were also not actively buying.

A total of 10.18 million tonnes of coking coal was reportedly sitting at Chinese main ports on Monday, down from 10.66 million tonnes a week ago. Jingtang port alone saw its inventory drop to 4.05 million tonnes, compared with 4.46 million tonnes recorded last Monday.

The most-traded September coking coal futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at 863 yuan ($140) per tonne, up from Friday’s close of 836 yuan ($136) per tonne.

The most-traded September coke contract also closed higher at 1,211 yuan ($197) per tonne, compared with the previous close of 1,183 yuan ($192) per tonne.

The yuan prices are the equivalent of cfr prices plus 17% VAT and port charges of about 35 yuan ($6) per tonne.