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Prices of most imported coals remained stable this week, except for PCI cargoes from Australia which edged up by a slight margin.
Coking coal imports
Prices of imported coking coal stayed flat on week. Prime coking coal from Australia’s Peak Down was quoted at $206/tonne CFR China, basically in line with offer
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The capacity utilization rate of blast furnaces at China's 247 surveyed steel producers stayed generally stable at 81.29% as of June 21, or merely 0.03 percentage point lower on week, according to Mysteel's latest survey released on June 22.
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Iron ore stocks at China's 45 surveyed ports was on the third-week decline, down another 2.35 million tonnes or 1.5% on week to approximately 155 million tonnes as of June 21, partly due to higher discharge rate during the week, according to Mysteel's latest survey published on June 22.
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Iron ore shipments dispatched from Australia and Brazil for the week of June 11-17 reversed down 1.96 million tonnes or 7.5% on week to 24 million tonnes with Australia being the core contributor to the decline, according to Mysteel's latest survey released on June 20.
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Prices of iron ore lumps and higher-grade iron ore fines inched up further, indicating Chinese steel producers' remaining preference for such iron ore products amid rounds of environmental protection inspections and emergency curbing efforts, market sources agreed on June 19.
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Prices of most imported coals edged up this week.
Coking coal imports
Prices of imported coking coal climbed up further from a week earlier. Prime coking coal from Australia’s Peak Down was quoted at $206/tonne CFR China, rising $4/t on expectation of limited availability of Australian supplies in June, as bottleneck at
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The blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate at the 247 China's steel plants that Mysteel regularly monitors declined by a slight 0.29 percentage point on week to an average of 81.32% as of June 14, according to Mysteel's survey published on June 15. Market sources blamed the idling of some BFs in North China's Hebei and in Central China's Henan province.
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Iron ore stocks at Chinese ports edged down for a second successive week this week as local steelmakers' enthusiasm for purchasing iron ore recovered after Qingdao in East China's Shandong province had bid farewell to dignitaries attending last weekend's Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.
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Stocks of imported iron ore fines for sintering at the 64 surveyed Chinese steel mills remained largely unchanged at 19.9 million tonnes, or sufficient for 30 days of consumption, according to Mysteel's latest report released on June 14.
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Total iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil added up to 26 million tonnes over June 4-10, being 552,000 tonnes or 2.2% more than the previous week, and Australian miners were the core contributors, offsetting the tonnage loss from Brazil, according to Mysteel's latest survey released on June 13.
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Over the past two weeks China's daily domestic iron ore concentrates output remained steady, down merely 0.5% or 2,000 tonnes to 411,000 tonnes/day on average as of June 7 among the 266 surveyed domestic mines, according to Mysteel's latest survey released last Friday.
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China's iron ore trade warmed up a little over the past week, especially in North China, while at the same time, high-grade Brazilian iron ore remained popular among Chinese mills, two factors which together led prices of imported iron ore to continue rising, market sources noted.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among the 247 Chinese steelmakers nationwide which Mysteel regularly surveys remained mostly stable over the past week, with the figure down by a tiny 0.02 percentage point on week to 81.61% as of June 7, according to Mysteel's latest survey published on June 8. Though miniscule, the dip nevertheless ended the five-week climb.
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Prices of imported coal varieties staged mixed trends this week. Coking coal continued to nose up, PCI coal dropped by a noticeable margin, while thermal coal remained relatively stable.
Coking coal imports
Prices of imported coking coaledged up further from a week earlier. Primecoking coal fromAustralia’s Peak Downwas quoted at$202/tonne CFR China,
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Iron ore stocks at China's 45 surveyed ports receded 0.8% or 1.3 million tonnes on week to about 159 million tonnes as of June 7, mainly because of fewer ship arrivals in the past few weeks, Mysteel's latest survey showed.
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Iron ore shipments dispatched from Australia and Brazil for the week of May 28-June 3 grew for the second successive week though the increase was registered at merely 189,000 tonnes or some 0.7% on week to 25.4 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest survey released on June 6.
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Ferrous scrap prices in China continued to weaken during the week of May 28-June 1, with Mysteel's 6-8mm HMS price in Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province, nudging down Yuan 70/tonne ($10.9/t) or 3.3% on week to Yuan 2,040/t excluding the 16% VAT as of June 1.
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China's domestic iron ore market cooled down over May 28-June 1, reflecting the crimp in demand from North and East China, the country's iron- and steelmaking bases, Mysteel notes.
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Though the iron ore trade over the past week was generally lacklustre China's steel producers were more willing to procure Brazilian iron ore for both seaborne cargoes and port inventories and this pushed Chinese prices of high-grade Brazilian iron ore up further, market sources noted.
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Prices ofmostimported coalvarietiesremained relatively stable this weekwith moderate rises seen on certain products of coking coal and thermal coal.
Coking coal imports
Prices of imported coking coaledged up marginally from a week earlier. Primecoking coal fromAustralia’s Peak Downwas quoted at$199/tonne CFR China, rising $3/t on expectation of limited availability of Australian supplies
