Metallurgical

摘要

The global coking coal market appears to be softening a little. Asian steel producers are deferring cargoes. "There are three factors at play here," a source told Coal Americas. "First, Australian producers, for the most part, have their mines back into production. That places more volume back into the market. Then secondly, U.S. coal is spilling over into the Asian market in a substantial way. More than 5.0 million tonnes of U.S. coal was sold into Asia in April. Most of it wasn't premium quality, but it is being used to fill high-vol and PCI demand. Then, third, there's China. China has temporarily reduced its purchases of imported coking coal. It's just a temporary thing. All indications suggest China will be back in the market soon, and we may be surprised at how much coal China requires.