[SMM Coking Coal and Coke Daily Briefing] 20260920

[SMM Daily Review on Coking Coal and Coke]

Coking coal market:

Linfen low-sulphur coking coal was quoted at 2,510 yuan/mt.

On the coking coal side, due to ongoing controls from safety inspections, coupled with some coal mines proactively implementing production halts and cuts after completing annual production tasks, coking coal production remained low, with limited supply-side growth, providing support for coal prices. Coking coal prices are expected to continue to consolidate at highs in the short term.

Coke market:

The nationwide average price of quasi-first-grade metallurgical coke - dry quenching was 2,420 yuan/mt.

On the supply side, the fifth round of coke price hikes has been fully implemented, with coke enterprises' losses narrowing significantly and production operating rates rebounding somewhat. However, constrained by tight coking coal supply, further increases in operating rates were limited; coupled with moderate downstream demand, coke inventories at coke enterprises continued to decline and destock. On the demand side, steel enterprises' losses expanded further, with more blast furnace maintenance at steel mills, and rigid demand for coke weakened somewhat. Although the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are approaching, steel mills showed weak willingness to proactively restock; before substantial improvement is seen in finished steel demand and steel mill profits, coke restocking intensity will remain constrained. Overall, coke lacks momentum for further price hikes in the short term, and the coke market is expected to stabilize at highs next week. [SMM Steel]