DAILY: China's coking coal sentiment improves, yet pressure remains

Bearish sentiment in China's coking coal market eased slightly on July 21, as participants expect that tighter regulatory controls on mining operations could crimp the production recovery across major coking coal hubs over the longer term. Nevertheless, pressure persists, as lacklustre steel performance continues to weigh on the raw material sectors.

The improved sentiment was reflected in firmer coking coal derivatives late on Tuesday. During the night trading session, the most-traded September contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at Yuan 1,276/tonne ($188.5/t), up 1.8% from the day's settlement price. Analysts traced the sentiment boost to expectations of tighter mine operation