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

Chinese prices for imported iron ore continued falling in both spot and futures markets during May 18-22, as the cost support eased with retreating oil prices while steel demand also softened with the arrival of the summer lull season. During the same period, futures prices of China's domestic metallurgical coke also declined, but prices of spot coke held largely stable.

Production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steelmakers continued to tick higher during the past week, with more mills resuming operations after maintenance. During May 15-21, the average capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steel producers under Mysteel's tracking rose 0.56 percentage point on week to reach 90.28%, marking