Coal prices, shipments at Sino-Mongolian border ports rise as sentiment lifts

After slack market fundamentals in December caused Mongolian coking coal prices at China's Ganqimaodu border crossing to fluctuate, improved sentiment from late last week has led prices to strengthen markedly, Mysteel's latest survey has found. This also encouraged portside traders to accelerate their imports of the commodity.

According to Mysteel's assessment on January 14, the price for Mongolian 5# raw prime coking coal at Ganqimaodu – a major conduit for Mongolian coal into China – reached Yuan 1,068/tonne ($153.2/t) ex-stock including the 13% VAT, up 6.8% on week and 13.6% on month. This jump followed a similar