Coking coal prices had been supported by firm futures prices until Wednesday, when almost all metals futures fell sharply. Going forward however, demand remains firm as Chinese steelmakers boost output ahead of autumn demand and the winter heating season, Kallanish notes.

On the globalCOAL trading platform on Tuesday 90,000 tonnes of hard coking traded at $196/tonne fob Australia for September shipment. That was down from the last deal on the platform at $200/t fob on 4 August but spot prices have in fact been on an upwards trend in the last week.

In China last week, Pingdingshan prime coking coal prices were firm at $199/t delivered. On the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Wednesday coking coal futures settled at CNY 1,446.5/t ($216.84/t), down CNY 26/t, but were still close to the highest level seen in 2017.

Coking coal had been recovering on the back of increasing steel output at smaller steel mills. Steelmakers have also been restocking to ensure output over the peak demand season over the coming two months. That trend is likely to continue despite the impact of crashing commodity futures' prices on Wednesday.