China’s coking coal futures prices extended their decline on Monday, weighed down by prospects of rising supply amid continued production resumption after a deadly mine accident in coal-rich Shanxi and growing imports.
The most-traded coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) slipped 1.93% to 1,268.5 yuan ($187.32) per metric ton by 03:30 GMT.
The most active DCE coke contract fell 0.74% to 2,010.5 yuan a ton.
As of June 17, around 63% of coal mines that suspended operations after the fatal mine accident in late May have resumed production, according to a survey by the consultancy Mysteel.
Also, China’s imports of coking coal in May surged by 51% year-on-year while the year-to-date imports jumped by 25%, customs data showed.
China’s imports of coking coal are set to rise further this year, traders said.
“The recent coking coal price slump is not because there was a dramatic change in fundamentals, but is reflective of the shift in focus among traders to production resumption from previous fears of supply shortage,” analysts at Galaxy Futures said in a note.
“Uncertainties still cloud the pace of production restart for other mines, and it would be hard to see output recover to the pre-accident level,” they added.
Iron ore prices moved in a tight range on Monday as investors weighed still-resilient demand from steelmakers against elevated portside inventories.
The most-traded DCE ore contract dipped 0.13% to 745 yuan a ton.
The benchmark July iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.31% higher at $98.95 a ton, as of 02:54 GMT.
The average daily hot metal output, a gauge of iron ore demand, ticked 0.6% higher from the week before to 2.42 million tons as of June 18, the highest level since September 2025, Mysteel data showed.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed. Rebar shed 0.32%, hot-rolled coil lost 0.42%, stainless steel edged down 0.13% while wire rod added 0.51%.
($1 = 6.7718 Chinese yuan) (By Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
