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

Chinese prices for imported iron ore declined further in both spot and futures markets during January 19-23, amid the slowed recovery of steel production at steelmakers. During the same period, futures prices of metallurgical coke prices also dropped, but spot coke prices held steady overall as the tug-of-war between steel mills and coke producers over the latest coke price hike dragged on.

The hot metal production at integrated steelmakers was largely stable last week, with several blast furnaces (BFs) resuming operations from overhauls. The average capacity utilization rate of BFs among the 247 integrated steelmakers nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking inched up by 0.03 percentage point on week during January 16-22