Beijing calls another meeting to take Chinese coal miners to task for price rally
Chinese coal producers have been asked to cap their price limits on 2017 contracts and to sign more long-term deals in an effort to “prevent volatile coal prices moves”. Reuters photo.
Demand for Chinese coal rising as winter settles in
Chinese coal producers have been called to a meeting on Thursday by China’s state planner, the fourth last-minute gathering with the industry in two weeks, to admonish them for not doing enough to calm the red-hot market, according to a document seen by Reuters.
In a notice, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it sought to “prevent volatile coal prices moves,” calling for a meeting “to admonish producers for not regulating their pricing activities.”
The gathering in Beijing was to be held at 2:30 p.m.
The strongly-worded notice comes a week after the NDRC asked miners to cap their price limits on 2017 contracts and pressed them to sign more long-term deals, in an apparent effort to end the months-long rally the government has said is not justified by fundamentals.
The NDRC did not respond to requests for comment.
Experts and miners say the frequency of the gatherings reflect Beijing’s increasing worries about runaway prices ahead of the winter.
An official government newspaper reported on Thursday that major producer China National Coal Group Corp (ChinaCoal) has cut its thermal coal prices by 10 yuan per ton.
Spot prices for 5,500 kcalorie thermal coal gained 4 yuan on Thursday to 697 yuan ($103.12) per ton, data provided by Fenwei Energy showed.
(Reporting by Meng Meng and Josephine Mason in BEIJING and Ruby Lian in SHANGHAI; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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