BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - Chinese coking coal prices wobbled on Friday but were headed for their best week in six, as Beijing's call to ensure energy supply during the peak summer demand period only partly offset supply fears sparked by mine suspensions after a deadly accident.
Efforts should be made to ensure production and supply of primary energy sources such as coal and natural gas to meet peak power generation needs, according to a statement on the WeChat account of China's state planner late on Thursday.
That helped to ease concerns over coal supply losses due to the production halts at mines in coal-rich Shanxi province after a gas explosion late last Friday at the Liushenyu mine killed 82 people, triggering stringent safety inspections at mines, said analysts.
"Coal markets tightened following China's mine safety clampdown after a gas explosion, supporting prices ahead of peak summer demand," analysts at shipping tracker Kpler said in a note.
The most-traded coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed daytime trade down 0.31% to 1,285.5 yuan ($189.90) per metric ton, which recorded a weekly gain of 9.6%.
The most active DCE coke contract advanced 0.26% to 1,903 yuan per ton, up 9.4% so far this week.
Prices of feedstocks, including coking coal and iron ore, also found support from resilient near-term demand from steelmakers.
The average daily hot metal output, a gauge of feedstock demand, ticked up 0.1% from the week before to 2.41 million tons as of May 28, the highest since last October, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
Iron ore prices were range-bound, with the most-traded DCE contract up 0.45% at 783.5 yuan per ton, while the benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.11% higher at $105.45 per ton, as of 0800 GMT.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange mostly strengthened. Rebar rose 0.19%, hot-rolled coil added 0.33%, wire rod gained 0.24% while stainless steel shed 0.44%.
($1 = 6.7693 Chinese yuan)