WEEKLY: China thermal coal finds a floor, but recovery looks fragile

China's thermal coal market finally rebounded last week (December 29-January 4), snapping a downturn for more than a month, driven by emerging demand from downstream buyers for bargain hunting, and eased inventories at northern ports.

As of January 4, a makeup workday in China for the New Year's Day holiday, Mysteel assessed the benchmark 5,500 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at Yuan 690/tonne ($98.8/t) FOB northern ports with VAT, up by Yuan 3/t from a week earlier. The market started recovering on December 30, when downstream