DAILY: Some Chinese steelmakers accept met coke hikes

The latest bout of metallurgical coke price hikes proposed by Chinese coke firms last Wednesday is expected to take effect this week after some steelmakers in northern China accepted the hikes on Monday. The near-term outlook remains supported by solid coke fundamentals, although sentiment is increasingly tempered by mounting concerns over weakness in the downstream steel market.

Mysteel Coke Index (MCI) CDQ, which tracks China's national dry-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke prices, remained flat from the previous session at Yuan 1,946.4/tonne ($286.5/t) on Monday, while the MCI CWQ for wet-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke also stood unchanged at Yuan 1,771.6/t, both including VAT. Some steel mills in North China's