SHANGHAI, Dec 21 (SMM) - Coking coal market: The shipments from coal mines were smooth as downstream buyers were keen on purchasing coking coal. But steel mills and coking companies were cautious about purchasing high-priced coals on account of low profits. Meanwhile, the recent online auction prices showed mixed performance. Therefore, the quotations of coal mines were mostly stable.
Coke market: On the supply side, although the market sentiment turned sluggish, the coke stocks of coking enterprises still remained low, while the coking coal prices continued to stand high. As such, the coke prices were supported. On the demand side, the steel mills were active in producing, thus their huge consumption of coke pointed to continuous restocking demand for coke.
On the whole, coking companies were cautious about production ramp-up, while steel mills still had high demand for coke to replenish their inventory. In this context, the coke prices are expected to rise steadily in the short term with strong cost support.
