China coal prices to drop by 60pctMonday, 07 Dec 2009
Himfr.com reports that as the first round of international negotiation on coal prices comes to an end,
the price of coal will drop below 60% of its current price. Himfr estimates that China will continue to significantly reduce coal exports this year while its domestic coal prices will also be dropping.
In August of last year, China imposed a 40% temporary export tariff on coal, and as the international financial crisis continued to spread, exports from China Shanxi province, a major coal producer, dropped six consecutive months. Himfr statistics show that in the first two months of this year, Shanxi Province exported 44,000 tonnes of coal, down 94.9%YoY or USD 18 million worth compared with same period of last year.
The export volume of coal in Shanxi Province was only 6,365 tonnes in November a YoY decrease of 98% which makes it the lowest single month export volume in the past five years.
Himfr statistics show that from October to November of this year Shanxi coal exported 24,000 tonnes to Japan, down 87.5% and 4,944 tons to the EU down by 51.8%. In addition, China only exported 2,533 tons to Brazil down by 98.8% and only 40 tonnes to the United States, down nearly 100%. Except for an increase in exports to ASEAN countries exports to all other countries decreased.
The
shrinkage of the international market is also factor in the depression of Chinese coal prices. From this week data, it appears prices of Chinese coal fell in the area of CNY 50 per tonne to CNY 100 per tonne in most areas. Himfr expects that in the next period of time, if prices of steel continue to drop and small coalmines resume production, coal prices will continue to drop.
https://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/12/07/MTIzODQ4/China_coal_prices_to_drop_by_60pct_-_Himfr.html