BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - Chinese coking coal prices soared on Monday to their highest in nearly two weeks, as a wave of stringent safety checks at coal mines following a deadly mine accident in a key production hub triggered expectations of tightening supply.
A gas explosion at the Liushenyu coal mine in northern province of Shanxi late on Friday has killed 82 people, the country's deadliest mining accident since at least 2009.
The mine is owned by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Coking Group and all four of its mines have been closed and company executives detained, local officials said at a news conference on Sunday.
State-run newspaper the People's Daily published an editorial on the accident on its front page on Sunday morning, calling for greater attention to safety in production and to "completely reverse the tendency to prioritise development over safety."
The most-traded coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) hit its price limit up, jumping by 7.97% to 1,266.5 yuan ($186.78) per metric ton, its highest level since May 12.
The most-active DCE coke contract surged by 7.99% to 1,879 yuan a ton, its strongest since May 6.
A survey by consultancy Mysteel showed that several other coal mines in Shanxi have halted production for three to five days for safety checks, which would reduce raw coking coal supply by 288,000 tons per day.
Iron ore prices also strengthened, with the most-active DCE contract up 0.5% at 796.5 yuan a ton by 0345 GMT.
The benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.96% higher at $107.2 a ton by 0335 GMT.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained ground on higher raw materials costs.
Rebar gained 1.45%, hot-rolled coil rose 1.39%, wire rod advanced 1.19% and stainless steel added 0.3%.
($1 = 6.7806 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jakcson; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
