DAILY: Chinese steelmakers agree to met coke price hikes

The first round of metallurgical coke price hikes proposed by major Chinese coke producers gained approval from major steelmakers on August 21, paving the way for the increases to formally take effect on August 24. Supported by soaring coking coal prices, tightening coke supply and improving demand expectations, market participants remain optimistic about the near-term coke market.

Mysteel Coke Index (MCI) CDQ, which tracks China's national dry-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke prices, remained unchanged at Yuan 1,838.7/tonne ($272.7/t) last Friday, while the MCI CWQ for wet-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke was also stable at Yuan 1,695/t. Some steel mills in North China's Hebei province and Tianjin municipality announced last