Trading activity in the seaborne coking coal market was muted on Wednesday July 17 with Chinese buyers and global sellers digesting the implications of restrictions on imported coal at ports in China.
Earlier this week, the Port of Caofeidian in Hebei province restricted customs declarations to only local end users, market sources said on Tuesday. This effectively bars traders from using the port to land their imported cargoes, they said.On Wednesday, market sources reiterated that it was highly likely for similar restrictions to be extended to the Port of Jingtang, also located in Hebei province. A few of them even said that such restrictions were already in place."In my understanding, end-user buyers will now have to negotiate with Jingtang customs authorities for each cargo on a case-by-case basis," a buyer source said. A trader said that the restrictions would bar both domestic and foreign traders from making customs declarations at Jingtang. But he added that he had not seen any...