MYSTEEL: Steel mills’ coke, coke plants’ coal stocks dip
As of February 2, coke stocks at the 110 Chinese steel plants under the survey fell 8% or 413,300 tonnes from January 22 to 4.7 million tonnes in total, which will be sufficient for 15.2 days of consumption on average, according to the sharing by the 110 mills, or 1.4 days shorter than that as of January 22.
On the same date, coking coal stocks at China’s 230 independent coke plants under Mysteel’s other regular survey declined by nearly 3 million tonnes or 17.6% from January 22 to 13.9 million tonnes, or being sufficient for 17.9 days of use, which is also 1.8 days shorter than that in late January.
The Chinese New Year break, initially over January 24-30, then extended to February 2 because of the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has resulted in the obvious slowdown in coke and coal deliveries via heavy-duty trucks, as many highways across provinces have been under close scrutiny to minimize the spread of the virus, Mysteel understood from the survey respondents.
However, lower stocks of raw materials may not be a headache for these enterprises in the near term, as most of the enterprises in many parts of China, including those in the major steelmaking and coking provinces, have been strongly suggested asking employees back to the offices before February 10 as part of the efforts to battle against the 2019-nCoV.
Besides, transportation obstacles and possible shrinking in demand now and in the coming weeks among the uncertainties of the domestic steel market because of the virus outbreak have seen coke stocks at the 230 independent coke plants under Mysteel’s survey swell by 65.6% or 694,500 tonnes from before the CNY holiday to 1.8 million tonnes at the start of February even though their average coking capacity utilization rate fell 6.6 percentage points to 65.8% over the period.
During the same period, the imported coking coal stocks at the major five ports of China including Jingtang in North China, Zhanjiang in South China and Qingdao, Rizhao and Lianyungang ports in East China also grew by 290,000 tonnes or 5% to 5.6 million tonnes amid the consistent new shipment arrivals but lower daily discharge rate, Mysteel understood from the market participants.
Written by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com
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