China's coke market is likely to stay weak in March, as the price of coking coal, the raw material for coke-making, is expected to fall moderately, while downstream steel price may not rise substantially because of high stock, though the demand for steel products is set to rise.

Presently, the price for GradeⅡmetallurgical coke in Shanxi is quoted 1680-1700 yuan/t, VAT-included, while that for GradeⅠmetallurgical coke quoted 1800 yuan/t, VAT-included, down about 50 yuan/t from February.

From the macroscopic view, the steel market hasn't seen any improvement. The higher deposit reserve ratio raised by the central bank, the shortage of farmer workers, along with bad weather condition and other unfavorable factors all caused the depression in the whole steel industry chain.

It is expected the steel demand can be stronger in the second half of this month; however, it’s still hard for steel price to go up due to the high inventory. Meanwhile, coking coal price is likely to fall.

As a result, coke market will keep weak in March and the trend of coke price will be mainly decided by the steel market.
 

Source: en.sxcoal.com