WEEKLY: China's met coke to edge higher on depleting inventories

Despite weaker cost support, China's metallurgical coke prices are anticipated to edge higher in the near term, mainly as coke producers saw their inventories decline further this week, indicating a healthy fundamental landscape and offering renewed support for the market.

Stockpiles of this steelmaking material at both coke plants and downstream steel mills extended their downward trend, underscoring a tightening coke supply-demand balance amid faster downstream consumption, supply disruptions from maintenances on several railways and coke facilities, and coke producers' limited enthusiasm in output ramp-ups. According to Mysteel's survey on