Posted on 26 Jan 2021
Total coke stocks held by the 110 Chinese steel mills Mysteel surveys weekly had hit a 47-month low of 3.9 million tonnes as of January 21, decreasing further by 4.7% on week, according to data released on January 22. Last week, regulations relating to truck transportation during the resurgent coronavirus were partially lifted in North China’s Hebei, though in general, coke delivered to local plants remained slow, according to the survey.
The stocks could sustain the steelmakers for 12.1 days of operation, 0.5 day shorter on week and at a 40-month low, the data showed.
After intensive COVID-19 testing and stringent measures adopted in Hebei to control the spread of the pandemic, truck transportation restrictions in the province were partially eased last week though as of late Friday, the situation had not yet returned to normal.
Although local steelmakers announced they would pay another Yuan 100/tonne ($15.5/t) to coke makers from January 20 to secure steady coke supplies, their coke inventories continued to decline last week, during which more local steelmakers put their blast furnaces on care and maintenance, according to the survey.
With the recent price adjustment, the coke makers have raised their selling prices a total of 14 times since last August for a cumulative increase of Yuan 900/t in total. As of January 21, Mysteel’s national composite coke price had risen by Yuan 89.9/t on week to Yuan 2,587.7/t including the 13% VAT, hitting a new high since September 5 2008.
Last week, domestic coke supplies were generally stable, as total coke output among the 230 independent coking plants under Mysteel’s weekly survey had averaged 635,600 tonnes/day over January 14-20, up slightly by 3,300 t/d from the prior week. Their capacity utilization rate edged up too, by 0.4 percentage point on week to 71.1% over the same period, Mysteel’s data showed.
However, the disruption to transportation meant that the coke-makers’ stocks had risen by 28,400 tonnes on week to 449,500 tonnes as of January 21, according to Mysteel’s survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
