Posted on 30 Dec 2020
Despite rising demand from countries other than China, global prices for seaborne premium low-volatile (PLV) hard coking coal kept sliding over December 21-25, because of weak demand from China, one of the top buyers for the coal, Mysteel Global understands.
As of December 25, Mysteel’s price assessment for the PLV hard coking coal softened another $0.5/tonne on week to $113.25/t CFR North China. The assessment is mainly based on Australian PLV prices.
In comparison, Mysteel’s assessment for the premium medium-volatile hard coking coal strengthened $8/t on-week to $198/t CFR North China, a new high since Mysteel started the assessment on November 4, 2019.
Last week, sustained low prices of Australian coal attracted some bookings from traders and end-users other than in China. However, this business could not offset the weak demand in China after the country began placing informal restrictions on Australian coal resources in October. Though more agreements on Australian coking coal were reached last week, these were not sufficient to push coal prices up, due to abundant supply, Mysteel Global understands.
Bookings for Australian coal from non-Chinese buyers are anticipated to keep rising over the near future, thanks to the steady recovery of economic and industrial activities mainly in Asian countries. However, uncertainty regarding China’s coal import policies will remain the challenge for coal prices going forward, Mysteel Global noted.
As substitutes for Australian coal, US and Canadian coal brands stayed popular among Chinese markets, though here again, supplies from these trans-Pacific shippers were unable to fully meet China’s demand. Last week, more deals involving North American coal were concluded with laycans over late January to February 2021, according to Mysteel’s transaction tracking.
As for the stocks of imported coking coal, those at the five Chinese ports surveyed weekly by Mysteel reversed up by 9% on week to 2.9 million tonnes as of December 24, after declining over the previous three consecutive weeks, according to data. Last week saw some new vessels unloading coal at Jingtang port in North China and Qingdao port in East China, which contributed to the mounting stocks, detailed data showed.
Written by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Source:Mysteel Global
