COKING COAL DAILY: Seaborne prices flat on inactive trading

Seaborne prices were flat on Friday August 14 amid a silent market, while the ex-China markets showed signs of recovery and Chinese steel mills were stuck with the country’s import restrictions on seaborne coking coal, sources said.

Fastmarkets indices
Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.84 per tonne, down $0.15 per tonne
Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $115.09 per tonne, up $0.22 per tonne
Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $85.02 per tonne, unchanged
Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $98.29 per tonne, down $0.42 per tonne

No transactions were heard on Friday August 14.

One coke producer source from Northern China said that customs clearance had been so lengthy and difficult that some cargoes of seaborne coking coal had been waiting at the Jingtang and Caofeidian ports for as long as two and half months.

A buyer source based in Australia said that the cfr market may become more active in October, when steel mills in China can procure November-laycan cargoes using their import quotas for 2021.

“Before that, trading in the cfr market will be inactive and there is still some room for a price reduction in premium hard coking coal,” he said.

The ex-China markets showed signs of recovery though, one a trader source said.

“Steel mills in India, Japan and South Korea have been inquiring about coke prices, which indicates a recovery in steel products. I’ve heard cargoes of seaborne coking coal going to India,” he said.

Dalian Commodity Exchange
The most-traded September coking coal contract closed at 1,194 yuan ($171.89) per tonne on Friday, up by 8.50 yuan per tonne.

The most-traded September coke futures contract closed at 1,992.50 yuan per tonne, up by 4.50 yuan per tonne.