It said this volatility led to more companies seeking to manage their exposure, subsequent price risk and to speculate against the physical market.

"Strong volatility and new market participants helped drive a record volume of 2.193 million tonnes of coking coal futures cleared on the Singapore Exchange this October," SSY said.

"The market has seen a significant growth in volumes and participants with a range of coal producers, financial institutions and end users active as the physical coking coal market experienced price swings."

ANZ bank said it perceived a subtle Chinese government policy shift taking the edge off steel demand in China, which could have implications for coking coal pricing.

"With the recovery in the economy largely established, we now expect Beijing to shift away from ‘old infrastructure' in favour of ‘new infrastructure'," it states in its Commodity Call report.

"This will include investment in sectors such as 5G communication networks, ultra-high voltage transmission, high-speed rail, urban transit and electric vehicle charging networks.

"These sectors tend to be less steel intensive than infrastructure or real estate."