From the perspective of demand, in June, the Southern region ushered in the rainy season, with rainstorms and floods in many places.

UK-South African mining firm Anglo American has restarted its 6.5mn t/yr Moranbah North coking coal mine in Queensland, Australia, four months after a seam collapse forced its closure.

Japan's Tokyo Steel announced its sixth increase for ferrous scrap prices this month, effective on 13 June, as its previous rises failed to boost scrap flow to some mills.

The Queensland government will fast track approvals for Switzerland-based mining firm Glencore's A$1.5mn ($1bn) Valeria thermal and coking coal mine, as it seeks to boost the state's economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK economy suffered its biggest monthly contraction on record in April, with the country's GDP shrinking by a fifth during the first full month of its Covid-19 lockdown.

US coking coal mining firms were put in a position of running up high inventories at the start of the third quarter.

UK-Australian resources firm BHP is altering its 80mn t/yr South Flank iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA) after a pledge not to destroy heritage sites in the mining area.

France's manufacturing demand fell sharply again in April, induced by the nationwide lockdown to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.