DAILY: China's portside thermal coal holds steady, pithead prices lower

China's thermal coal market showed diverging trends on September 23, with portside prices holding steady while pithead prices began to edge lower. Trading settled into a stand-off, indicating that pre-holiday restocking has fallen short of expectations.

On Wednesday, Mysteel assessed the benchmark 5,500 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at Yuan 983/tonne ($146.6/t) FOB northern ports with VAT, flat for a fourth session. The 5,000 kcal/kg and 4,500 kcal/kg NAR grades also stood unchanged at Yuan 889/t and Yuan 803/t, respectively. At eastern ports along the Yangtze