DAILY: China's ninth coke price hike materializes, outlook weakens

China's ninth round of metallurgical coke price hikes materialized on July 1, pushing prices up by a cumulative Yuan 450-495/tonne ($66.2-72.9/t) since early April. However, the near-term market outlook remains clouded by mounting pressure from both upstream and downstream sectors.

Mysteel Coke Index (MCI) CDQ, which tracks China's national dry-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke prices, rose by Yuan 53.9/t on day to Yuan 2,000.3/t on Wednesday, while the MCI CWQ for wet-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke increased by Yuan 64.4/t to Yuan 1,836/t, both including VAT. China's two leading steel groups, Rizhao