All 20 Sxcoal-surveyed coking plants cut prices on Dec 27. The fifth coke price cut materialized, sending accumulative cut totaling 250-275 yuan/t. However, most coke makers still retained profits and maintained steady production. Given limited demand, molten iron production remained low. Coke prices are estimated to further drop. With such pessimistic environment, coke sales at some coke companies were unsmooth and resulted in stock build-ups. This also weighed on their procurement of coking coal.