On January 1, the Shanxi Coking Industry Association released its guideline policy for the coke market in January 2010, taking into account the impact of coal prices and transportation costs on the coke market.

As regards the reduction of production levels, the association still urges local coke producers to keep their outputs to 40-50 percent of normal capacity so as to stabilize the market supply.

As for coke prices, the Shanxi Coking Industry Association has raised its January guideline price to RMB 1,850/mt (FOT, tax included) for coke with sulphur content of less than 0.7 percent and with ash content lower than 12.5 percent.