Coking coal sales in China remained subdued as prudence prevailed among coking plants and traders, while market sentiment cooled further due to the decline of settlement prices or failures for online auctions.

 

Miners found it increasingly hard to clinch new orders, which sparked growing concerns about their destocking progress once they finished fulfillment for their previous and current orders.

 

Some miners continued to reduce offer prices to attract more buyers and boost sales, and those who had offered high-priced supplies planned further price cuts to avoid being priced out of the market.

 

One large miner in Shenyang, Liaoning adjusted down prices of mid-sulfur lean coal (S 1.6%, GRI 30) by 80 yuan/t to 1,560 yuan/t, mid-sulfur primary lean coal (S 1.3%, GRI 55) by 100 yuan/t to 1,970 yuan/t, and high-sulfur fat coal (S 1.8%, GRI 92) by 100 yuan/t to 2,300 yuan/t, ex-washplant with VAT and in cash.

 

On March 4, the CCI index for Shanxi low-sulfur primary coking coal fell 85 yuan/t from late last week at 2,245 yuan/t, ex-washplant with VAT, while that for mid- and high-sulfur primary coking coal kept unchanged at 2,100 yuan/t and 2,098 yuan/t, respectively.

 

Multiple reductions in prices at several mines indeed spurred some buying interests and helped miners receive some new orders, yet the overall sales volume was not significantly higher amid a continued lack of demand support, Sxcoal understood from some miners.

 

Most coke producers primarily focused on digesting their existing coking coal stocks and resisted ramping up purchases amid persisting losses and weak downstream demand.

 

Starting or settlement levels of some online coking coal auctions continued to fall, in order to embrace more sales volumes

 

On March 4, one Luliang-based miner in Shanxi put 10,000 tonnes of mid-sulfur washed primary coking coal (S 1.5%, GRI 80) for auction at 1,730 yuan/t. The trade was fully concluded at 1,755-1,760 yuan/t, lower than 1,810-1,815 yuan/t after starting from 1,810 yuan/t on February 28.

 

Meanwhile, there were still failures of the deals. "Our mine auctioned 40,000 tonnes of high-sulfur fat coal (S 2.5%, GRI 90) at the starting price of 1,190 yuan/t, but the deal eventually failed due to thick cautious sentiment among coke firms," said one source with a Linfen-based mine in Shanxi.

 

In terms of the import market for Mongolian coal, cargo transactions remained weak despite improved inquiries. Supervision warehouses held relatively high stocks. Traders were in diverging sentiment and offer prices for Mongolia 5# raw coal fluctuated around 1,470-1,500 yuan/t, ex-stock Ganqimaodu basis with VAT.