China significantly expands coal production, sees stabilised prices

The most-traded January thermal coal futures contract on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange continued to fall as the country took multiple measures to regulate excessive market speculation.

As a tight coal supply eases, the fuel stocks of key coal-fired plants in the country are accelerating growth, according to information provided by a Chinese government portal.

"In recent days, the daily coal supply to key coal-fired power plants has surpassed 8 million tonnes, with the highest figure topping 8.32 million tonnes, a historic high," NDRC said.

China's top economic planner said it expects the coal inventory of the country's power plants to surpass 110 million tonnes, which could support 20 days of consumption.

Coal stocks at power plants in the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning have increased to exceed 12.7 million tonnes, nearly double the figure seen at the end of September, and could support 32 days of consumption, NDRC added.

In late September, planned shutdowns in industrial provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong were reported due to the government’s effort to reduce carbon emissions and shortage of electricity production owing to short supply of coal from Australia.

The planned shutdowns were to the extent of 40-60 per cent, and were likely to continue till December this year, as the Chinese government was serious about curbing emissions ahead of the Winter Olympics scheduled for February 4 to 22 next year in Beijing.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)