China exported 12.02 million tons of coke in the first 10 months of the year, up 13.3 percent year-on-year, but the average export price dropped by 29.2 percent.

Statistics released Thursday by the Chinese customs show that coke export revenues in the January-October period were 1.65 billion USdollars, down 19.8 percent on the same period last year, with an average export price of 137.1 US dollars per ton.

The European Union, the United States and Japan are the main destinations of China's coke exports. Of total exports, 3.24 million tons went to EU countries, up 1.6 percent; 2.133 million tons to the United States, up 84.7 percent; and 1.869 million tons to Japan, down 23 percent. The three markets combined accounted for 68.6 percent of China's total coke exports during the period.

An analysis by the customs said that, since March, the export price has been recovered from a two-year low of 118.9 dollars per ton to around 150 dollars in October.

Starting from November 1, China began to levy a tariff of five percent on coke exports, in an effort to rein in the export of commodities that carry high pollution and high energy costs.

China is the only country able to produce high quality coke containing lower than 0.65 percent of sulphur, as required by international iron and steel giants, according to the customs.

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