Thermal Coal

Production area China's mine-mouth thermal coal market remained weak as a whole. Traders largely stayed on the sidelines, and end users made sparse purchases for essential needs. Some mines reported tepid sales and further downside price pressure. A few cost-effective mines reported a slight uptick in sales, tentatively lifting prices. This, however, led to buyer reluctance and a subsequent retreat in prices. Despite fragile price support, miners said increased production halts or cuts for maintenance by year-end may help support prices in the near term.

Northern Port Portside market remained weak. While sellers reduced their offers, the declines were not significant, and buyers continued to push for deeper discounts amid sluggish demand, leading to subdued transactions. Despite a few short-covering and inquiries for essential needs, high inventories and restrictions on rail coal arrivals at northern ports made sellers eager to clear cargoes, with certain even bidding lower to utility tenders. Prices could be hard to stabilize in the near term.

Import Market Traders' bidding prices to utility tenders decreased further, with low-CV coal dropping by about 5 yuan/t. Overseas offers remained basically unchanged, while declines in CFR costs were primarily driven by seaborne freight rates and exchange rates. The price competitiveness of mid- and high-CV grades remained far below that of low-CV coal, still facing downside risks.

Coking Coal

More mines suspended production for maintenance after completing their annual output targets, further tightening supply. As coking plants engaged in moderate restocking, coking coal transactions improved. A few cost-effective grades rose by 20-50 yuan/t due to smoother sales. Expectations of further coke price cut, coupled with limited demand and cautious sentiment among traders, left sales for most grades lukewarm and prices rangebound at low levels.

A total of 1,659 trucks passed through China's Ganqimaodu border port on December 23, setting a new single-day record. Low-priced inquiries resulted in sparse transactions at the border port. Inventories at customs supervision areas reached 3.67 million tonnes as of December 21, an increase of 1.58 million tonnes compared to the low point at the end of October. Mongolian 5# raw coal was offered at about 970-980 yuan/t, ex-stock with VAT.

Met Coke

Coke prices stabilized temporarily following three rounds of price cut. As environmental warnings eased gradually, related coking plants resumed normal production. However, some plants opted to delay ramping up output due to high coke-making costs and sales pressure, leading to only slight increase in supply. Most steel mills, having replenished coke stocks to a comfortable level, maintained relatively low molten iron output and controlled coke arrivals. Participants worried about further coke price cut in the near term.