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Chinese coking coal futures hit their trading limit down at open on Thursday for a second straight session and plumbed a near two-month low, as Beijing beefed up measures to cool surging coal prices.
The country’s top economic planner held a slew of meetings with key producers and industry associations on Wednesday to discuss measures such as setting price levels and ways to better identify companies engaged in “profiteering.”
“The policy intervention in coal prices is intensifying, and exchanges have tightened trading rules for relevant products. The market is in panic,” analysts with SinoSteel Futures wrote in a note.
Meanwhile, coking coal supplies remained tight as imports from countries like Mongolia were hit by the pandemic situation, according to Huatai Futures analysts.
The most actively traded coking coal futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January delivery, plunged 12% to 2,503 yuan ($391.24) per tonne, hitting its lowest level since Sept. 1. Open interest of the contract had slumped 82.5% from Aug. 18.
Coke futures were also down 12% to hit the limit.
Benchmark iron ore futures fell 2.4% to 684 yuan per tonne. They plunged as much as 8.7% to 639 yuan a tonne earlier.
Spot 62% iron ore inched up $1 to $122.5 per tonne on Wednesday, according to SteelHome consultancy.
Construction-used steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 1.3% to 4,712 yuan per tonne.
Hot rolled steel fell 1.7% to 5,063 yuan a tonne.
Shanghai stainless steel futures, for December delivery, slid 3.2% to 19,295 yuan per tonne.