Coke Prices May Fall Further This Week

SHANGHAI, Apr 11 (SMM) - On the supply side, the rising profits encouraged coking companies to increase production, but the shipments have slowed down and the inventory has accumulated. On the demand side, steel mills purchased coke as needed and some still controlled the arrivals of coke. On the cost side, the prices of most coal types in Shanxi and Shandong dropped significantly, but those in Hebei remained stable. As such, the costs of coking companies diverged. To sum up, coking costs in mainstream coke production areas dropped again, and coke supply was sufficient. Therefore, steel mills still intend to suppress coke prices and the coke prices may continue to weaken this week.