China coal short-term outlook January 2024

Leading up to the Chinese New Year holidays, January tends to be a quiet month that sees thin trading. China’s thermal coal market held no surprises as the QHD prices edged down. However, the figures released in January included GDP and other economic indicators, data on power generation, coal import, and coal inventory by ports. We believe these will have a big impact on the coal market in the near term. Metallurgical coal markets were equally frigid as a significant number of steel mills were under maintenance or limited by pollution controls, muting coal buying interest. A thawing in markets towards the end of the month, when the traditional coal restocking kicks in, provided some support. So, how will the market and pricing look after the Chinese New Year's holiday period? Find the answers in our report.