WEEKLY SUMMARY: China's iron ore prices rise, spot coke stable

Chinese prices for imported iron ore gained ground in both spot and futures markets last week, mainly as market sentiment warmed up along with faster destocking in the steel market. For metallurgical coke, its futures prices increased markedly while spot coke prices hovered largely stable, with steelmakers launching another round of price cuts for this feed material under financial pressure.

The extended production curbs in some northern cities to improve local air quality caused more reduction in mills' blast-furnace (BF) operations as a whole. The average capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steelmakers nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking dropped for the fifth straight week during December 12-18 to