In late December, the price of national secondary coke rose by 34.6 CNY/ton

According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of statistics on January 6, in late December, the price of national coke (secondary coke) was 1763.3 CNY/ton, up 34.6 CNY/ton or 2% compared with the previous period. Since the end of December, due to the acceleration of coking capacity reduction in Shandong, the number of enterprises out of production increased. In addition, due to the impact of haze early warning weather on environmental protection in Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shaanxi, the operating rate of coking enterprises has declined. Coke enterprises take this opportunity to raise the coke price by 50 CNY/ton in the third round. At present, steel mills in most parts of the country have successively implemented the third round of price increase of 50 CNY/ton for coke. Since the middle of November 2019, coke enterprises have increased the price of 150 CNY/ton in three rounds.

The profit of coke enterprises continued to rise, and the average profit per ton of coke of 30 independent coking plants in China was about 170 CNY/ton. However, in the third round of price increase, the resistance of Shanxi steel plant to the price increase is relatively strong, and some steel plants offset the increase by reducing, mainly because the recent steel price continues to fall, the profit of the steel plant is compressed to a certain extent, the pressure on the raw material end is growing, and the further price increase of Coke will be more difficult. However, it is also not ruled out that with the continuous promotion of coke de capacity in Shandong Province, there is a regional supply gap for coke, thus supporting the coke price to continue to rise. According to the understanding of Fenwei Ministry of energy and metallurgy on January 6, at present, the coke market is generally stable, moderately strong, and coke enterprises have a high enthusiasm for production after implementing three rounds of price increase. Most of them may maintain full load production, and the supply of production area is relatively guaranteed. In addition, heavy snow weather has occurred in the northern region in recent two days, and the Shanxi expressway is basically closed, affecting coke delivery of coke enterprises.

In terms of steel plants, the inventory has stabilized and recovered, but the rain and snow may affect the coke delivery volume. In addition, some steel plants may have plans to increase the inventory before this year, so the terminal is more active in coke procurement. In the later stage, we still need to pay attention to the replenishment progress of a small number of low inventory steel plants. As a whole, considering the Spring Festival factor and the strong coking cost, the short-term demand for coke is relatively supported. On January 3, 2020, 1700 CNY/ton of quasi primary metallurgical coke in Luliang, Shanxi Province, was flat compared with the same period of last week, up 100 CNY/ton compared with the same period of last month; 1960 CNY/ton of quasi primary metallurgical coke in Tangshan, Hebei Province, was flat compared with the same period of last week, up 100 CNY/ton compared with the same period of last month; 1850 CNY/ton of quasi primary metallurgical coke in Rizhao, Shandong Province, up 20 CNY/ton compared with the same period of last week, up 90 CNY/ton compared with the same period of last month.