[FREE] China Morning Snapshot – 13 October 2021

Dalian Commodity Exchange extended the weakening trend for the second straight session, shrugging off the deepening coal shortages and the robust export data for September.

Details on the spot and futures prices are shown in the following table:

Inventory digestion rates have slowed down compared to the previous several sessions, dropping 10,000 tons to 770,000 tons as of 12 October 2021.

The overheated local market follows the movement on Dalian Commodity Exchange closely, shedding another CNY50-250/ton from the previous day, yet buyers only off-take small quantities. As the government escalated the effort to ease the energy crisis, and quench speculations that might drive up inflation, market sources embrace further declines this week.

“Manufacturers are buying constantly, though in a more cautious manner. However, the absence of arbitrage traders really hurt the sentiment. If the futures market continues to fall, these traders might even push their stocks to the spot market, causing even more pressure,” a seller added.