China's production of coke, a steelmaking material, has increased for four consecutive months on a year-on-year basis, driven by buoyant demand from steel mills.
In October, the country's coke production totaled 40 million tonnes, a 2.2% rise year on year, rising for the fourth consecutive month since July, despite a 1.45% drop compared with that in September.
The output was 390.99 million tonnes in January-October, which was 0.7% lower than the same period last year, yet the decline was narrower compared with a fall of 1.1% in the first nine months.
Spurred by increased demand, coke producers maintained high capacity utilization, even at the time when safety and environmental checks were on the way.
By origin, the largest coke producer Shanxi made a total 9.21 million tonnes of coke in October, or 23.01% of the country's total. The output was 13.2% higher than the year-ago level, but a 4.11% fall compared with September.
Shaanxi's coke production in October was 4.36 million tonnes, up 10.7% year on year yet down 5.5% month on month; Inner Mongolia's output totaled 3.75 million tonnes, up 17.6% year on year but down 0.2% month on month; Hebei 3.71 million tonnes, down 7.8% year on year and 2.32% month on month; Shandong 2.31 million tonnes, down 39.7% year on year yet up 1% month on month.
Apart from Shandong, other major provinces had month-on-month decreases; on a year-on-year basis, Shandong remained in appearance with the biggest fall, where the policy that coke is produced as per coal consumption remained strict.
In the first ten months, Shanxi's coke production increased 6.9% to 88.83 million tonnes, followed by Hebei's 39.82 million tonnes (-6% YoY) and Shaanxi's 39.71 million tonnes (flat YoY).
While China's coke production is on track to surpass the 2019's total in November, the supply would be still tight over the supply chain. The price has increased three rounds since October, but further rises in the near term are still anticipated within the industry.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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