China Apr coke output down 1.4 pct on yr

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Publish time: 14th May, 2015      Source: www.cnchemicals.com
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China produced 37.43 million tonnes of coke in April, down 3.4% from a year ago and down 1.5% from March, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on May 13.The drop was mainly due to low operation rates of coking plants amid weak downstream demand and the government’s environmental protection campaign.As of April 30, the capacity utilization of main coking plants in northern and eastern China were 77.5% and 73.8%, respectively, both down from 78.5% of end-March.Over January-April, total coke output of China reached 150.12 million tonnes, down 2.3% year on year, the NBS data showed.Coke market remained sluggish recently, as large producers cut purchase price to maintain sales amid huge stocks pressure. Hebei Iron & Steel Group has cut the delivered price of its Grade I and Grade II cokes by 30 yuan/t and 10 yuan/t from April to 950 yuan/t and 890 yuan/t, respectively, effective from May 1.By end-April, capacity utilization at main steel mills in northern China was 95.4%, up from 91.7% a month ago, indicating improvements in operations.