WEEKLY: China's met coke fundamentals tend to weaken

The supply-demand fundamental landscape for China's metallurgical coke market showed signs of weakening over the past week, as downstream mills' previous replenishment had elevated coke stocks at their plants while coke producers raised output slightly. Such developments could undermine the negotiating power of coke firms, further delaying the implementation of the third bout of met coke price hikes.

According to Mysteel's tracking, total met coke inventories in China, including those at all independent coke plants, 247 blast-furnace (BF) steel mills and 4 major ports, ascended by 0.78% on week to 10.17 million tonnes by April 30, hitting a new high since mid-April last year. On a yearly