[SMM Coking Coal and Coke Daily Brief] 20260617

[SMM Coking Coal and Coke Daily Brief]

Coking Coal Market:

Linfen low-sulphur coking coal was quoted at 1,980 yuan/mt.

On the coking coal side, the phenomenon of production halts and restrictions at mines in main producing areas had not yet subsided, resumption inspections progressed slowly, coal supply could not be fully released, and market supply remained persistently tight. Downstream raw material coal inventories were at low levels, with a prominent procurement gap for high-quality coking coal and fat coal. All online auctions were concluded, and transaction prices continued to rise. The supply-demand imbalance pattern was difficult to reverse in the short term, so coking coal prices would stay high in the short term.

Coke Market:

The nationwide average price of quasi-first-grade metallurgical coke (dry quenching) was 1,980 yuan/mt.

In news, leading coke enterprises initiated the eighth round of coke price increases, which were implemented at midnight on June 20. On the supply side, the coke price increase could not offset the rise in raw material costs, causing most coke enterprises to suffer profit losses and show low production willingness. Loss-making enterprises continued production restrictions, reducing coke output. Currently, coke enterprises were moving goods smoothly, and in-plant coke inventories remained persistently low. On the demand side, blast furnaces at steel mills operated stably with persistently high utilization rates, their own coke inventories were continuously depleted, and rigid demand provided sufficient support. In summary, with tightening safety regulation and control in Shanxi, high raw material costs, and the tight coke supply situation being difficult to alleviate in the short term, combined with the already proposed eighth round of coke price increases, multiple positive factors were in place. The coke market would maintain a relatively strong trend in the short term. [SMM Steel]