Dalian coking coal hits 3-month low as supply, imports stabilise

BEIJING: Chinese coking coal futures slumped on Monday, falling more than 6% to their lowest in three months, as supply worries eased with stable domestic output and imports, though demand for the ingredient appeared promising on strong steel production.

"Previous surge in coking coal prices partly due to tight imports," said Liu Xinwei, chief researcher with Sublime China Information, "but we now adjusting our import structures like ramping up purchases from Mongolia."

Meanwhile, domestic production is also relatively abundant as many mines did not have New Year holidays this year due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, according to a Huatai Futures note.

The most traded coking coal futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for May delivery, dived as much as 6.5% to 1,387 yuan ($214.64) per tonne, the lowest since Nov. 23, 2020. They were down 6.2%, as of 0305 GMT.

Coke futures on the Dalian bourse slumped 3.3% to 2,475 yuan a tonne.

Despite lower prices, analysts are still optimistic on demand of the steelmaking raw materials as utilisation rates at steel mills' blast furnaces are high while downstream sector is entering peak season.