Latest news on China steel and other commodity markets

DAILY: China's met coke market stays strong amid tight fundamentals

China's metallurgical coke market maintained steady performance on June 17, underpinned by a persistently tight balance in fundamentals. Market participants generally expect coke prices to continue to firm up in the near term.

Survey: Operating rate and inventory of Chinese base oil plants 2026.06.19

OilChem weekly survey of the Chinese base oil plant inventory and operating rate. Unit: Tonne, Percentage

DAILY: Fed rate-hike expectations to weigh on copper price outlook

Copper prices saw limited increases in futures and spot markets on June 17, supported by the supply side as refined copper inventories in non-U.S. regions continued declining due to expectations of U.S. import tariffs on copper.   On June 17 local time, results of the Federal Reserve's June FOMC mee

Survey: China base oil sales volume 2026.06.19

OilChem weekly survey of the base oil sales volume in China. Unit: Tonne

FLASH: Farasis Energy signs a strategic cooperation agreement with WLF Energy

On June 17, Farasis Energy and German energy technology company WLF Energy signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the two parties will jointly formulate a technology and product roadmap, and collaborate on the development of next-generation battery technologies a

Survey: IO inventories at the steel mills 2026.6.18

Mysteel weekly survey on IO inventories at the steel mills.   I. Iron ore stocks Table 1   Table 2   Table 3   II. Blast furnaces feeding ratio and molten iron cost Table 4   Note: Mysteel steel mills' iron ore stocks survey covers 64 China's steel mills in the regions of Tangshan, Handan, Xingtai,

Nickel Daily: As short-term demand has largely been released, spot trading for refined nickel is generally subdued

For nickel ore, sea freight rates from the Philippines to China and Indonesia are expected to gradually decline from current highs. A pullback in sea freight would effectively ease landed cost pressures for nickel ore. On the Indonesian domestic ore front, premiums for high-grade ore above 1.6% rema

Lithium Daily: Lithium prices rangebound for lack of catalyst

The lithium carbonate futures price closed the day with mild increases yesterday, with market players in intensive tug-of-war. On the one hand, the market remained in tight balance recently, with stocks showing steady but slow reductions across the industry chain, based on Mysteel's weekly tracking

Cobalt Daily: Cobalt salt prices to run weakly in the short term

On June 17, the market price of electrolytic cobalt moved down Yuan 1,273/tonne to Yuan 381,264-384,955/tonne. In addition, the market prices of cobalt sulfate and cobalt chloride continued to be flat at 88,000/t-92,000/t and 109,000-114,000/t respectively.On the supply side, market participants wid

Survey: China MTBE production and operating rate 2026.06.19

OilChem weekly survey of the Chinese MTBE production and operating rate in Shandong Province. Unit: '000 tonne, Percentage