DAILY: China's coking coal supply shrinks on mine stoppages, prices dip

China's coking coal supply continued shrinking as of December 22, impacted by strict safety scrutiny as well as some mines' slowed production pace near the year-end. Nevertheless, coal prices have gained limited upward strength due to a parallel softening of downstream demand, Mysteel observes.

After a deadly water leakage accident at Datonggou Coal Mine in Jixi city, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, at 4:30 a.m. on December 21 trapped five workers underground, operations at all privately-owned coal mines in the city were halted for rectifications, idling a combined production capacity of 4.05 million tonnes/year,