Via Wood Mackenzie:
There has been an uneasy tension around hard coking coal (HCC) prices for some time. Few would argue that US$200/t prices for seaborne HCCs were sustainable. But at the same time, the market had become accustomed to sky-high prices, kept artificially strong while China focused on restructuring its steel and coal sectors.
When prices plunged in July and August 2019, reaching around US$130/t, it was either unnerving or long overdue, depending on your point of view. In either case, the current situation is a gaping disparity between domestic Chinese and international prices – with market participants left wondering if this is a long-term correction, or a short sharp shock.
