[SMM Daily Coal & Coke Briefing]
Coking coal market:
Linfen low-sulphur coking coal offered at 1,670 yuan/mt. Tangshan low-sulphur coking coal offered at 1,620 yuan/mt.
Raw material fundamentals: safety and environmental protection inspections have tightened supply; downstream mills keep buying, mines sign orders smoothly, and inventory keeps falling. Short-term coking coal prices are expected to rise further.
Coke market:
First-grade metallurgical coke—dry quench nationwide average price 1,900 yuan/mt. Quasi-first-grade metallurgical coke—dry quench nationwide average price 1,760 yuan/mt. First-grade metallurgical coke—wet quench nationwide average price 1,540 yuan/mt. Quasi-first-grade metallurgical coke—wet quench nationwide average price 1,450 yuan/mt.
Supply side: higher coal-in-furnace costs increase cost pressure on some coke plants; Pingdingshan, Henan activated an orange heavy-pollution alert, and some plants may cut production by 15–30%. Short-term coke supply tightness is set to intensify. Demand side: recent end-use demand for finished steel is soft, steel prices pulled back under pressure, and steel mill profits narrowed, yet mills maintain stable operations and their own coke inventories keep falling, so procurement remains active. Overall, coke mills and steel mills will be in a short-term tug-of-war.[SMM Steel]
