DAILY: China's thermal coal ticks up, yet upside still capped

China's spot thermal coal prices picked up on January 26, which was beyond participants' expectation for a stabilizing trend in the near term. The uptick was led by some emerging restocking needs for high-quality cargoes among utilities ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday over February 15-23, though overall demand remained patchy.

On Monday, Mysteel assessed 5,500 kcal/kg, 5,000 kcal/kg and 4,500 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at Yuan 695/tonne ($99.9/t), Yuan 608/t and Yuan 517/t, respectively, FOB northern ports with VAT, all up by Yuan 2/t from last Friday. The gains mark a new improvement after market ended a weeklong downturn