The top five provinces – Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Hebei– produced 21.88 million tonnes of coke in November, down 2.2% on the month and accounting for 54.2% of the country's total, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

 

In November alone, China produced 40.37 million tonnes of coke, up 7.2% year on year yet down 2.8% month on month. The daily production was calculated at 1.35 million tonnes on average, edging up 0.4% from October.

 

 

Of the top five provinces, Shanxi ranked first with production 1.6 times that of second-ranked Inner Mongolia. In November, coke production in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia continued to decline, while Xinjiang reversed the downtrend.

 

Output in Hebei continued to drop for the sixth consecutive month in November, while that of Shaanxi kept rising for the fourth month.

 

Shanxi's coke output fell below 8 million tonnes for the second consecutive month in November. The output of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia continued to remain above 4 million tonnes. Xinjiang produced over 3 million tonnes of coke. And the coke output of other provinces and regions was less than 3 million tonnes.

 

Shanxi produced 7.17 million tonnes of coke, down 9.7% month on month, accounting for 17.8% of the total. Shaanxi reported output of 4.35 million tonnes, increasing 7.9% month on month and accounting for 10.8%.

 

Inner Mongolia's coke output was 4.23 million tonnes in November, falling 1.9% on the month and taking up 10.5%.

 

Xinjiang's coke production came in at 3.35 million tonnes, rising 23.0% month on month and taking up 8.3% of the total. Hebei produced 2.78 million tonnes, down 17.5% on the month and accounting for 6.9%.

 

On a month-on-month basis, about 70% of 28 provinces posted reduction, with Hebei reporting largest declining rate of 17.5%. Shanxi registered the largest decrease of 773,000 tonnes.

 

 

About 7 provinces and regions saw a rise from the month-ago levels, with Xinjiang grabbing the largest growth of 23.0%, which also harvested the largest increment of 626,000 tonnes.

 

Qinghai's coke production was zero for the sixth consecutive month in November.

 

Coke output in November posted downward trajectory, affected by multiple factors.

 

Although coke prices completed two rounds of increase with a cumulative rise of 200-220 yuan/t, frequent coal mine accidents in main production areas significantly lifted coking coal prices and increased coke-making cost, leading to reduced coke production enthusiasm.

 

Increased environmental inspections curbed regional coke output last month.

 

Besides, the concentrated elimination of the 4.3-meter coke ovens at the end of October also contributed to the reduced production in November.

 

As coke prices continued to rise and the profits of coke companies kept recovering, the coke production was expected to increase mildly in December. However, most coke companies were still inclined to maintained production flat, as high coking coal prices and environmental disruptions made it challenging for them to raise output.

 

China's accumulative coke output stood at 450.40 million tonnes during January-November, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%, NBS data showed. Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Hebei and Xinjiang respectively accounted for 19.6%, 10.3%, 9.2%, 8.9% and 6.8% of the total.