China’s steel, coal futures see outstanding performance

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Futures contracts in the Chinese market for commodities including rebar, hard coke and coking coal saw increases on Friday, continuing their upward climbs that have lasted for several months.

The contracts for hard coke on the Dalian Commodity Exchange have been rising since the beginning of June and have jumped by almost 56 percent since the start of the year. Rebar on the Shanghai Commodity Exchange has gone up some 29 percent since January.

Listed firms in the steel and coal industries including Jizhong Energy, Lanhua Sci-tech Venture and Shanxi Coking Group have all seen profit increases in the first half. Jizhong Energy has been the best performer, with an extraordinary rise in profits of 6,128 percent.

Experts said the dramatic increase in the steel and coal sectors are due to declining supply, coming in turn from the government's drive against both industrial overcapacity and polluting industries.

At the closing session on Friday, futures contracts for rebar had risen by 2.7 percent in Shanghai. In Dalian, hard coke had jumped by 3.9 percent and coking coal by 2.03 percent.

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