China’s Wholesale Input Prices Split in Early June as Coal Costs Jump and Steel Eases
China’s high frequency gauge of industrial input costs pointed in two directions at once in the first ten days of June, with coal and coking materials climbing sharply while steel, petrochemicals, refined fuels, and most farm inputs softened. The reading was released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on 14 June 2026 and covers the period from 1 to 10 June 2026, measured against the previous ten day window of 21 to 31 May 2026.
According to the Bureau’s monitoring of 50 important means of production across nine categories in the national circulation field, the prices of 14 products rose, 33 fell, and 3 were unchanged from late May. The survey draws on nearly 2,000 wholesalers, agents, and dealers operating in more than 300 trading markets across all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, which makes it one of the timeliest official windows onto factory gate and wholesale cost pressure in the world’s largest manufacturing economy.
Coal and coking inputs led the gainers
The clearest move came in the coal complex, where all four monitored grades advanced. Main coking coal rose 12.0 percent to about 1,770.6 yuan per ton, a gain of 189.2 yuan over the late May level, while quasi primary metallurgical coke added 4.3 percent to about 1,590.2 yuan. Washed anthracite in medium pieces climbed 7.8 percent to about 1,079.7 yuan, and Shanxi superior mixed coal rated at 5,500 kilocalories gained 2.1 percent to about 861.0 yuan. Coking coal and coke are the principal raw materials for blast furnace steelmaking, so their simultaneous rise is consistent with firmer upstream demand or tighter supply at the very start of the steel production chain, although the monitor reports prices only and does not identify the cause.
That coal strength stands in contrast to the metals it feeds. Across ferrous products, five of the six monitored grades declined. Rebar used in construction eased 0.7 percent to about 3,243.9 yuan per ton, high speed wire fell 0.7 percent to about 3,404.5 yuan, ordinary hot rolled sheet slipped 0.5 percent, ordinary medium plate edged down 0.4 percent, and angle steel dropped 0.7 percent. Only seamless steel pipe bucked the trend with a slight 0.2 percent rise. The combination of dearer coking inputs and cheaper finished steel suggests margins at Chinese mills were under pressure in early June rather than expanding.
Base metals mixed, with copper firm
Nonferrous metals were narrowly mixed. Electrolytic copper, a barometer of global industrial and electrification demand, firmed 0.3 percent to about 105,083.8 yuan per ton, holding above the symbolically important 100,000 yuan mark. Aluminum ingot eased 0.5 percent to about 24,132.5 yuan, zinc ingot was little changed at about 24,756.3 yuan, and lead ingot was the weakest of the group, down 1.4 percent to about 16,262.5 yuan. Copper’s resilience alongside softer aluminum and lead is notable, though the NBS monitor reports prices only and does not identify the underlying demand drivers.
Refined fuels and petrochemicals weakened
Energy products mostly fell, broadly consistent with a softer tone in crude benchmarks over part of the early June window, in which global oil markets remained volatile. Among petroleum and gas products, semi refined paraffin recorded the single largest decline on the list at 5.1 percent, settling near 7,385.0 yuan per ton. National VI standard diesel fell 1.5 percent to about 7,688.0 yuan, 95 grade gasoline declined 1.0 percent to about 8,980.0 yuan, and liquefied petroleum gas dropped 1.7 percent to about 6,114.2 yuan. The notable exception was liquefied natural gas, which rose 1.4 percent to about 6,202.6 yuan per ton. Stronger LNG values are relevant for major exporters in the Gulf, where Qatar remains one of the largest suppliers of liquefied gas to Chinese buyers.
Petrochemical and chemical inputs were among the heaviest decliners. Glacial acetic acid fell 3.9 percent, butadiene rubber dropped 3.5 percent to about 14,029.2 yuan per ton, and pure petroleum benzene declined 3.3 percent to about 7,662.7 yuan. Standard power grade lithium iron phosphate, a key cathode material for electric vehicle and storage batteries, fell 3.0 percent to about 57,634.3 yuan per ton, a decrease of 1,776.8 yuan that extends a broader easing in battery supply chain costs. Methanol provided a counterpoint, rising 1.9 percent to about 2,996.1 yuan, while sulfuric acid added 1.4 percent.
Building materials and farm inputs
Non metallic mineral products were mixed. Bulk ordinary Portland cement rated P.O 42.5 rose 1.2 percent to about 260.5 yuan per ton, a modest sign of construction season demand, while float flat glass fell 1.3 percent and dense grade polysilicon, used in solar panels, slipped 0.3 percent to about 34.5 yuan per kilogram.
In agricultural products mainly used for processing, prices generally drifted lower. National standard grade III wheat fell 2.2 percent to about 2,476.8 yuan per ton, soybean meal with crude protein content of at least 43 percent dropped 2.1 percent, soybeans eased 1.3 percent, and grade II yellow corn slipped 0.5 percent. Three way crossbred live hogs, a closely watched gauge of food inflation, eased 1.0 percent to about 9.5 yuan per kilogram. Among farm inputs, monoammonium phosphate fertilizer rose 2.3 percent to about 4,279.7 yuan per ton and urea added 0.6 percent, while glyphosate technical pesticide fell 3.5 percent. In forest products, natural rubber gained 1.8 percent to about 17,734.4 yuan per ton and AA grade corrugated paper rose 2.0 percent.
The wider signal
The ten day monitor is distinct from the producer price index, because it captures wholesale and selling prices that include circulation costs, profits, and taxes on top of producer prices. The two measures can diverge over short periods. The latest reading adds detail to the Bureau’s May producer price figures, published on 11 June, which showed the producer price index for industrial products rising 3.9 percent from a year earlier and 0.5 percent from April. Within those figures, prices for means of production rose 5.2 percent year on year and the producer price index for coal mining and washing rose 10.0 percent, echoing the strength in coking coal and anthracite captured by the early June circulation data. The split in the ten day monitor, with steelmaking raw materials climbing while finished steel and many petrochemicals eased, suggests cost pressure remained uneven across the supply chain rather than broadly rising, with easing fuel, battery material, and farm input costs limiting the pass through to downstream goods.
For the global economy, these granular Chinese price signals carry weight well beyond the country’s borders. China remains the dominant marginal buyer of industrial metals, energy, and agricultural commodities, so swings in its wholesale demand ripple through international benchmarks for steel raw materials, copper, fuels, and battery inputs. The early June split, with steelmaking raw materials rising even as finished steel and many manufactured inputs eased, will be read closely by producers and exporters across Asia, the Gulf, Europe, and the Americas as one of the first hard data points on Chinese industrial momentum heading into the second half of the year. A fuller verdict will come with the Bureau’s May activity data on industrial output, retail sales, and investment, which is scheduled for release on 16 June.
Sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China (China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center).
