BEIJING : Chinese coking coal futures fell as much as 3per cent on Tuesday, hurt by expectations of cooling demand from mills and coking plants, while supply-side shortages were expected to recover.
China’s crude steel output fell for a second straight month in July, down 7.6per cent from a month earlier to 86.79 million tonnes, as the country aims to reduce carbon emissions by reducing production of the metal.
Intensifying output controls at coking plants in northwest and central China could also hurt consumption for coking coal, analysts at GF Futures wrote in a note.
Meanwhile, as Beijing has recently stepped up efforts to boost coal supply and stabilise commodity prices, supply for coking coal blending could be improved, GF Futures said.
The most traded coking coal futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January delivery, was down as much as 3.0per cent to 2,157 yuan (US$332.93) per tonne. They fell 1.3per cent to 2,195 yuan per tonne as of 0330 GMT.
Coke futures on the Dalian bourse edged down 0.8per cent to 2,902 yuan a tonne.
Benchmark iron ore futures dipped 0.6per cent to 843 yuan in morning trade, though spot 62per cent iron ore was unchanged at US$162 a tonne on Monday, according to SteelHome consultancy.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.5per cent to 5,363 yuan a tonne.
* Hot rolled coils, used in cars and home appliances, rose 0.2per cent to 5,686 yuan a tonne.
* Stainless steel futures on the Shanghai exchange increased 0.4per cent to 18,315 yuan per tonne.
(US$1 = 6.4788 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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