DAILY: China's met coke futures slump on dimmed demand outlook

China's metallurgical coke futures prices logged significant drops on December 5, as sentiment among many market players was largely dented by the expectation that demand for spot met coke would falter further alongside reductions in steelmakers' hot metal production in the coming weeks.

On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the most-traded met coke contract for next January delivery tumbled 3.2% from last Thursday's settlement price to close Friday's daytime trading session at Yuan 1,585/tonne ($225/t). Market analysts pointed to the bearish expectation for met coke demand in the near term as one of the