On December 28, the Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province issued a notice upgrading the orange severe air pollution warning level to red and activated Level I emergency response at 00:00 on December 29.
Electric and coal enterprises engaged in wholesale material transportation should give priority to rail transport for material logistics and impose restrictions on transportation. This is expected to reduce supplies of local coking coal to China's largest coal-producing province. While steel and iron ore futures were lower today, coking coal futures for the May contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 1 percent. So far, market sources do not expect supply disruptions in the long term, and restrictions are expected to be lifted after the end of the New Year holidays.
