DAILY: China's third met coke price cut materializes

China's third round of metallurgical coke price cuts officially took effect nationwide on August 7, reflecting the overwhelming weight of sluggish downstream demand despite emerging support late last week. The domestic coke market is likely to remain weak in the short run, although downside pressures are expected to gradually subside.

Mysteel Coke Index (MCI) CDQ, which tracks China's national dry-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke prices, dropped Yuan 53.9/tonne ($8/t) from the last session to Yuan 1,838.7/t last Friday, while the MCI CWQ for wet-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke also lost Yuan 44.1/t to Yuan 1,696.3/t. On Friday, two leading Chinese steel groups