DAILY: Safety checks tighten thermal coal supply in China, but buyer resistance caps price rally

Persistent mine safety inspections across major coal hubs in northern China continued to tighten spot thermal coal supply and lift mine-mouth prices on June 17, which also provided support to the portside market. However, growing buyer resistance to spot procurements at northern ports eroded the upward momentum and kept trading activity subdued.

Mysteel's survey on 110 thermal coal mines across Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia – China's top three coal-producing areas - showed that 12 of them raised prices by an average of Yuan 15/tonne ($2.2/t) on Wednesday, while only 1 mine cut prices by Yuan 20/t. The remaining 97 maintained