SHANGHAI, Aug 19 (SMM) - Coking coal market: Affected by the accidents in some coal mines in Shanxi, the production of coking coal decreased, leading to falling inventories of coking coal in coal mines. The market bullish sentiment increased, but the downstream demand has not seen a significant increase yet. The quotations of coal mines were mostly stable, except that prices of some coal types in tight supply trended higher.

Coke market: On the supply side, the profits of coke enterprises have improved significantly. The slightly growing output improved the supply, and the shipments of coke enterprises were smooth, leading to a low coke inventory. As the cost support for coke prices strengthens, coke prices are expected to rise further. On the demand side, the steel prices of fluctuated. As the terminal demand has not improved substantially, steel mills continued to purchase on rigid demand.

On the whole, the demand for coke from steel mills was on the rise, which coupled with the rising coking coal prices, provided a strong support to the coke spot prices. Some coke companies held a bullish attitude, but the steel prices remained rangebound and the terminal demand was still poor. Therefore it is expected that the coke prices will remain stable in the short term.