China’s coking coal market has been relatively better in recent weeks, especially in July, coking coal prices have recovered dramatically in a “V” shape.
After falling in the first half of 2025, coal trading on the Mongolian Mining Exchange rebounded sharply in July, with both trading volume and value hitting 14-month highs. Favorable macroeconomic conditions and a reduction in supply and improved demand in China have supported the recovery of online coal trading on the Mongolian Stock Exchange.
Despite the decrease in TOO trading days due to the National Day holiday, Mongolian mining companies successfully traded a total of 2.86 million tons of coal in 447 auctions last month, which is a 940 percent increase over the previous capaacaa, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Sxcoal. Not only was it the most active month of 2025 by month, but it surpassed the first six months of trading growth by 22 percent.
Last month, 72.45 percent of all auctions were successful, which was a good figure not seen this year. In comparison, 18.38 percent of all auctions were successful in June and only 3.03 percent in May.
Coking coal accounted for 84% of the traded coal during the reporting period, and coal for two companies, Tawantolgoi and Erdenes Tawantolgoi, accounted for 99%. Specifically, Tavantolgoi JSC led the way in July by selling 1.81 million tons of coking coal, while Erdenes Tavantolgoi JSC sold 1.02 million tons of coal, 56 percent of which was coking coal.
China’s coking coal market, which has not been “revived” for the first half of the year due to oversupply and macroeconomic uncertainty, has improved relatively in recent weeks, and especially in July, coking coal prices have sharply recovered in a “V” shape.
Coke and coking coal futures rose sharply as the country’s authorities stepped up measures to reduce overcapacity at steel and coking plants, end end-producers’ “price wars” and eliminate unreasonable pricing, sending a warning signal to the supply side as traders rushed to stockpile stocks.
Sxcoal points out that in less than a month, the price of metallurgical coke in the Chinese market has increased by an average of 250-275 yuan per ton.
Mongolian coking coal was sold at an average price of 86.23 USD per ton in Ganzmod Port in July, which is an increase of 11 percent from the previous month. As of the first half of the year, Mongolia exported 24.75 million tons of coking coal to China, which was 16.21 percent lower than the same period last year. However, including other types of coal, a total of 37.22 million tons were exported.
Ѕxcoal pointed out that despite favorable macroeconomic conditions for Mongolia’s coal exports last month, there are still structural challenges. Although the physical volume of exports can be increased through the development of ports and railways, the supply chain within China will decide everything.
Mongolia’s coal export will have a chance toreturn to its previous active level after the purchase of coke and steel plants recovers significantly and the stockpiles at the ports are significantly reduced. But in the short term, Sxcoal believes that the coal market in the second half of the year is expected to be much better than the first half, as China’s coal consumption traditionally peaks in September and October.
Source: Bloomberg TV Mongolia 2025/08/12