WEEKLY: Bloated stocks underscore China's coking coal drags

The past week marked a cautious note for China's spot coking coal market, despite some signs of sentiment improvement emerging in mid-week. The elevated coal stocks at mines, as a result of recovered production and moderate sales, continued to suppress market confidence and check new purchases of the feed coal.

Strong futures performance last Wednesday briefly boosted spot coal trading, as rumors about Northwest China's Shaanxi's revocation of an accumulative 19 million tonnes/year of coal production capacities reignited concerns over domestic supply contraction, as Mysteel Global reported. But sentiment cooled again later in the week, as the authenticity of the