As curbs on power demand in China have softened into October, melt rates there have not reduced as much as feared and small, private mills have actually increased their operating rates. PCI prices in China - a quick indicator of steel production sentiment - have increased slightly. This has led to some cautious optimism in China and encouraged some Chinese mills to come back into the coking coal market for seaborne tonnes. This has helped send prices up above the Q4 benchmark to 220 dollars/t fob for high quality hard coking coal, and above 200 dollars/t fob for most qualities of hard coking coal.
展开▼
