TOKYO: Coking coal prices are expected to stay near current levels around $300 per ton for a while due to Chinese curbs on mining, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation says. “We don’t think China will change its restriction on coking coal output so easily as the country is seriously trying to tackle an overcapacity issue,” said Kosei Shindo, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation. “So we need to be prepared for coking coal prices staying at the current levels for a certain period,” he said, without giving a specific duration.
Coking coal is used in steel production. Shindo, also president of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, said that if coking coal prices stayed near $300 per ton, then Japan’s biggest steelmaker would need to hike prices for its steel products by about another 10,000 yen per ton. That would be on top of an increase of 10,000 yen that is already planned for the business year to March 31.
