Demand for coking coal in South East Asia including India and China is expected to remain flat to weak during November 2013. However, some steel mills in the region those were away from the market for the past a few months are expected to return and refill inventories in the early November and this may support the commodity to certain extent.

Demand for coking coal in China is expected to remain flat with the advent of traditional dull winter season while in India it is likely to be weak as a result of the availability of the competitively priced coke imported from China and Russia, said The Steel Index in an e-mailed report.

Chinese steel companies in the southern China may return to the market in early November this is likely to support the coking coal as they start to raise their stock-piles.

“Elsewhere in North East Asia, contract tonnages continue to make up the bulk of imported coking coal. The majority of steel mills are expecting stable steel production for the remaining two months of the year and do not anticipate a pick up in finished steel demand or any need for significant spot coking coal tonnages to meet any surge in demand,” the report said.

Meanwhile, October continued to be a sluggish month overall for spot coking coal trades driven by a spill-over of quarterly contracts negotiations into the early week of the month and sufficient inventories held by several regional steel mills, the report pointed.

China imported a total of 7.25 mn tons of coking coal in September, up by 15.3% from August. The total year-to-date volume of coking coal imported into China stood at 54.73mt at the end of September, according to the data released by the China’s General Administration of Customs.

India's coking coal imports touched 16.11mn tons during the period between April to September, up by 5.53% year-on-year basis, according to statistics from the Indian Ports Association.