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

Chinese prices for imported iron ore continued falling in both spot and futures markets during February 2-6, along with steelmakers' subsiding replenishment of the commodity ahead of the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday. During the same period, spot prices of metallurgical coke held largely stable, while its futures prices recorded losses.

The hot metal production of integrated steelmakers in China recovered slightly last week with the restart of some blast furnaces after maintenance works. The capacity utilization rate of blast furnaces among the 247 integrated steelmakers nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking averaged 85.69% during January 30-February 5, up by 0.22