DAILY: China's coking coal uptrend stalls as uncertainty lingers

The steady uptrend in China's coking coal market this month came to a halt on May 15, as the near-term outlook turned uncertain. While some market participants grew increasingly cautious, others held a relatively positive view, hoping that coke producers' plans for further metallurgical coke price hikes would provide another boost to the coal market.

Last Friday, Mysteel assessed China's national composite coking coal price at Yuan 1,368.2/tonne ($200.7/t) including the 13% VAT, flat from the previous session. The upward momentum in China's coking coal market gradually faded last week, as end-users such as coke plants and steel mills turned more cautious over the high