Core Viewpoint - The coking coal market is experiencing fluctuations, with futures prices for coking coal declining, while the supply and demand dynamics are showing mixed signals, leading to uncertainty in price adjustments and profitability for coking enterprises [6] Supply - As of October 16, the average daily production of coking coal from independent coking plants was 653,000 tons, a decrease of 8,000 tons week-on-week. The average daily production from 247 steel mills was 459,000 tons, also down by 4,000 tons week-on-week, resulting in a total production of 1,112,000 tons, which is a decline of 13,000 tons week-on-week [3] Demand - As of October 16, the average daily pig iron production was 2,409,500 tons, down by 5,900 tons week-on-week. The blast furnace operating rate was 84.27%, unchanged from the previous week, while the capacity utilization rate for ironmaking was 90.33%, a decrease of 0.22%. The profitability rate for steel mills was 56.41%, down by 0.87% week-on-week [4] Inventory - As of October 16, the total inventory of coking coal was 9,494,000 tons, a decrease of 179,000 tons week-on-week. Independent coking enterprises held 573,000 tons, down by 66,000 tons week-on-week, while steel mills had 6,394,000 tons, down by 114,000 tons week-on-week. Port inventories stood at 2,527,000 tons, an increase of 1,000 tons week-on-week [5] Profitability - The average profit per ton of coking coal for 30 independent coking plants nationwide was -13 yuan. The average profit for Shanxi first-grade coking coal was -8 yuan, while Shandong first-grade coking coal averaged 43 yuan profit. Inner Mongolia second-grade coking coal had an average loss of 74 yuan, and Hebei first-grade coking coal averaged a profit of 35 yuan [2] Market Sentiment - The recent fluctuations in coking coal futures have led to a mixed market sentiment, with the second round of price increases proposed by major coking enterprises yet to be accepted by mainstream steel mills. The market is experiencing a passive destocking trend, with some signs of recovery in market sentiment due to reduced production in certain regions [6]