BEIJING- Chinese coking coal and coke futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped on Wednesday, boosted by restocking demand at steel mills as supply of the materials is relatively tight ahead of Lunar New Year holidays.
“Demand for coke is relatively strong as utilization rates at mills recovered after Tangshan lifted smog alert,” analysts with Haitong Futures wrote in a note, adding that steelmakers are piling up stocks amid concerns of logistics disruptions due to unfavorable weather and the pandemic situation.
Affected by recent COVID-19 outbreak, transportation has slowed while production at coal mines declined ahead of the Spring Festival holidays, leading to relatively tight supply of coking coal, according to the note.
