On July 28, the steel spot market was dominated by declines, and all major futures products fell, with coke and coking coal hitting their limit down, while rebar, hot-rolled coil, and iron ore fell by around 2%.
Following the Dalian Commodity Exchange’s adjustment of the trading limit for the coking coal futures JM2509 contract, the main coking coal futures contract hit its limit down today after four limit-up days.
Market sentiment quickly weakened, and long positions were rapidly reduced, driving down all ferrous metals.
Coke prices rise for four consecutive rounds
On July 27, major coking plants in several regions issued notices announcing price increases for coke.
Effective July 28, prices for rammed wet-quenched coke will increase by 50 yuan/ton and for rammed dry-quenched coke by 55 yuan/ton. This marks the fourth price increase in the domestic coke market this round.
On July 28, major steel mills in Tangshan planned to increase prices for wet-quenched coke by 50 yuan/ton and for dry-quenched coke by 55 yuan/ton, effective at midnight on July 29, 2025.
On July 28, some steel mills in Xingtai also raised prices for wet-quenched coke by 50 yuan/ton and for dry-quenched coke by 55 yuan/ton, effective at midnight on July 29, 2025.
Currently, four consecutive rounds of coke price increases are providing strong support for steel costs, which is positive for steel prices.
Mysteel Daily: Heilongjiang construction steel prices fluctuate and fall, market transactions are weak
On July 28th, construction steel prices in Heilongjiang Province fluctuated downward, with rebar prices dropping by 80 yuan/ton, coil rebar by 40 yuan/ton, and high-wire prices by 10 yuan/ton.
Futures prices were weak, with an increase in low-priced stock in the market. Some traders were selling off their stock, leading to a slight increase in terminal purchases.
The rebar price gap between Harbin and Shenyang remained at -30 yuan/ton, while the coil rebar gap widened to -50 yuan/ton.
Market transaction volume decreased by 27% compared to yesterday, with a generally subdued trading atmosphere.
The Dalian Commodity Exchange adjusted the trading limit for the JM2509 coking coal futures contract. The main coking coal futures contract hit the lower limit after four daily limit increases.
According to the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), starting from the trading session on July 29, 2025 (i.e., during the night trading session on July 28), non-futures company members or clients will be limited to opening no more than 500 contracts per day in the JM2509 coking coal futures contract, and no more than 2,000 contracts per day in other coking coal futures contracts.
The daily open interest refers to the sum of the number of buy and sell positions opened by non-futures company members or clients on a single contract on that day.
In the afternoon of July 28, the main coking coal contract hit its lower limit, falling 11% to 1,100.5 yuan/ton; the main coke contract hit its lower limit, falling 7.98% to 1,608.5 yuan/ton.
As the exchange introduced certain trading restrictions to address the current overheated market, the lower limit for both coke and coke prices led to declines for other ferrous metals, negatively impacting steel prices.
