China imported 3.57mn t of coking coal last month, down by 4pc from 3.72mn t in November.

Russian integrated steel producers NLMK, Severstal and MMK increased raw material production in 2020.

Weak Polish thermal coal imports early in 2021 could tighten availability of fine grades, which until recently were oversupplied in the country.

The country produced 30.14mn t of crude stainless steel in 2020, up by 2.51pc from 2019.

China also added a net 1.2GW of nuclear capacity to 49.9GW, 12.1GW of hydro to 370.2GW and 55.6GW of thermal capacity to 1,245GW.

Urals-based MMK sold 5pc less steel in 2020, reaching 10.8mn t, of which 4.3mn t was hot-rolled coil (HRC), down by 3.8pc on the year.

The first shipment of iron ore from Sierra Leone's New Tonkolili Iron Ore Project set sail for China from the country's Pepel Port on Friday.

Japan's coking coal imports rose in December to an eight-month high on increased shipments from Indonesia, underpinned by the strong recovery of Japan's steel industry.