China’s coking coal imports seen rising 47% in 2010

China’s imports of steelmaking material coking coal is expected to jump about 47% from a year earlier to 50 million tons in 2010, Shen Jinming, deputy general manager of the Shanxi Coking Coal Group, has said. China’s consumption of coking coal is expected to grow 11% this year to about 600 million tons.

The country’s coking coal production, meanwhile, is likely to grow 9% this year from last year’s 500 million tons, compared with a modest 5% gain in 2009, Shen added. “Coking coal imports help to fill the gap between domestic demand and output, and ease the price rally. Coking prices are likely to stablise, and only fluctuate in a narrow band.”