Coal prices in Asia soar

Coal prices in Asia soar

Thermal coal prices across Asia hit a high, amid low inventories in China and India due to strong electricity consumption.

The most-traded thermal coal futures contract on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange jumped more than 4% on Tuesday to a record high of 979 yuan ($151.63) a tonne.
In India, the price of US thermal coal (6900 NAR) in North Indian retail markets has increased by a third in the past 15 days and is up more than 100% from a year ago to 14,600 Indian rupees/ton.
Coal supplies are having a hard time keeping up with demand in top consumer China due to the slow progress of mine safety checks.
In second consumer India, weather and COVID-19 restrictions have hampered production.
Tight coal markets across Asia are highlighting a global bull market for all power generation fuels, including natural gas and high sulfur fuel oil, fueled driven by economic growth and LNG supply problems.
“Coal prices have increased in recent times, due to China’s heat wave, coal shortage and demand from power plants, high freight rates, increased imports in Asia, scarce supply due to rain in the region. Indonesia, Hurricane Ida in the US, said Coalshastra, founder of Indian coal market.
Coal prices from exporters Australia and Indonesia have also surged recently, with Australian Newcastle NCFMc1 coal prices up about 50% and Indonesian export prices up 30% over the past three months.
China’s futures for coke, a raw material mainly used in steelmaking, are also surging and have risen more than 50% in the past three months.
Strict supply controls in China contributed to the recent price rally.
Shanxi, China’s top coal-mining province, on Friday ordered all of its coal mines to undergo two-month safety checks and said non-compliant mines would be closed to prevent further damage. correction.
A state-owned coal mine with an annual capacity of 6 million tons has been closed for at least a month.
China’s state planner has also begun a new round of price exploration in coal mining regions including Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, aimed at preventing illegal price increases and stabilizing the market.

A coal trader in Inner Mongolia said: “The investigation is now focusing on several large mines responsible for ensuring the supply of coal-fired power plants. It is not yet certain whether the investigation will open. expand more mines or not”. .
Power plants in northeastern China have already begun replenishing inventories ahead of winter, while others in northern China are expected to continue replenishing in the coming weeks.
In India, the government has urged local coal mines to increase production and asked power companies to import coal as some power plants are running out of fuel.

Source: VITIC/Reuters

T&G International Joint Stock Company

Address: 352 Hue Street, Le Dai Hanh Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi

Hotline: 0345786803

Email: hrm@tginterjsc.com

Website: http://tginternationaljsc.com

Other news