DAILY: China's coking coal sentiment cools as buys subside

Sentiment in China's spot coking coal market cooled markedly on January 20, as the recent surge in coal buying activities was close to an end. Downstream steel mills may further slow their blast furnace operations in the short run, dampening demand for the feed coal.

Despite the cooling sentiment, coking coal prices maintained the upward trend due to firm offers. Spot trading activity was dominated by higher settlement prices, though the upticks narrowed from previous sessions and some sporadic cuts also emerged. Mysteel's assessment of the national composite coking coal price gained another Yuan