Chinese coal imports fall on costs and local supplThursday, 24 Sep 2009
Bloomberg reported that China the world largest coal user and producer cut imports of the fuel for a second month after global costs rose and domestic supplies increased.
Data from the customs office showed that purchases fell 15% to 11.77 million tonnes last month from July. Imports are still higher than the 3.79 million tonnes reported a year earlier.
According to recent data, China net coal imports fell to 9.86 million tonnes in August from 12.66 million tonnes in July after exports rose 54% to 1.91 million tonnes.
According to the globalCOAL NEWC Index imports declined for the first time MoM this year in July after the country reopened small mines to meet rising demand spurred by an economic recovery. Shipments also fell as the cost of overseas supplies rose. The weekly index for coal shipped from Australia’s Newcastle port climbed for a second week to USD 9.90 per tonne by September 18th.
Mr Martin Wang a coal analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Ltd in Hong Kong said “Overseas shipments of the fuel have no price advantage over domestic coal these days which will curb the country imports. On the other hand, it seems demand is rebounding quicker than we’ve been expecting.”
He said that including freight charges of about USD 20 per tonne, overseas coal will still cost more than local supplies.
The government has been accelerating the pace of mine openings after completing safety checks and consolidating as many as 10,000 small pits that had an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes or less.
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
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