WEEKLY: Met coal purchases diverge in Chinese market

The purchasing activity for metallurgical coal in China showed some signs of divergence during November 25-29, with coke producers accelerating procurement of the feed coal, while other buyers like steel mills, coal washeries and traders shunned building up their stocks of the steelmaking material, findings of Mysteel's latest survey show.

Increased buys led coking coal stockpiles at coke plants to move higher. Total coking coal stocks at the 230 Chinese independent coke plants under Mysteel's survey rose by 529,300 tonnes or 6.9% on week to reach 8.23 million tonnes as of November 28, hitting a nine-month high and marking