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Steel First’s premium hard coking coal index for material sold cfr Jingtang stood at $148.28 per tonne on December 9, down $0.07 from Tuesday.
Premium hard coking coal prices fob DBCT Australia were calculated at $136.17 per tonne, down $1.68 from Tuesday.
The price for hard coking coal cfr Jingtang stood at $137.71 per tonne on Wednesday, up $0.13 per tonne from Tuesday’s levels.
Hard coking coal fob DBCT was $124.29 per tonne, unchanged on the day
“It’s been pretty steady – not going down, but not going up either,” a trading source in Beijing told Steel First.
He added that he would wait for a while longer before selling his cargoes.
“There’s no clear direction in the market at the moment,” a second Beijing-based trader said. “So we’ve been cautious with bookings.”
Speaking to Steel First, market participants generally pegged top Australian brands at or below $150 per tonne cfr China.
On the fob Australia front, sources said trades were scarce, but pegged premium materials at about $136-138 per tonne.
The most-traded May hard coking coal futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at 1,105 yuan ($181) per tonne on Wednesday, down from Tuesday’s close of 1,113 yuan ($182) per tonne.
The most-traded May coke contract on the exchange closed at 1,613 yuan ($264) per tonne, also down from the previous close of 1,618 yuan ($265) per tonne.