It is learned from the industry that relevant departments of the National Development and Reform Commission have recently convened a number of large coal and power companies to study the coal supply situation this winter and next spring and work related to ensuring supply and price stability.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission requires all coal companies to increase their political positions, actively do a good job in price stabilization, ensure the implementation of the long-term agreement, actively tap the potential for production increase, and promptly submit applications for production increase, while requiring major power companies to step up replenishment , To ensure coal supply this winter and next spring.
Huadian Group and State Power Investment Corporation also recently studied and deployed coal winter storage work. Huadian Group stated that the task of preparing winter coal storage and price control is arduous. Under the premise of ensuring supply and annual ordering, the company will increase the cash of long-term coalition, increase the price of imported coal, and expand the procurement of suitable economic coal types. Strengthen market procurement strategy research and judgment, control procurement timing and other aspects to carry out price control and cost reduction work, and implement the work requirements for ensuring supply and stabilizing prices.
People in the coal industry believe that the overweight signal of safeguarding measures is once again released, and the rising trend of overheated coal prices is expected to slow down in the short term.
The lower-than-expected production release and the substantial increase in the daily coal consumption of power plants compared with previous years are the two major factors driving the increase in this round of coal prices. The reporter learned from an interview that both ends of supply and demand have improved recently.
According to the production data of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the daily output of coal in the area has basically remained above 2 million tons since September 1, and reached 2.16 million tons at the peak, which is roughly the same as the production level in October 2020. Both the number of production mines and the output have improved significantly compared with July and August.
From September 1st to 7th, the China Coal Transportation and Marketing Association focused on monitoring the daily average coal production of coal enterprises at 6.96 million tons, an increase of 1.5% from the average daily in August and an increase of 4.5% year-on-year. The coal production and sales of key enterprises are in good momentum. In addition, in mid-September, open-pit coal mines with an annual production capacity of nearly 50 million tons will be approved for continued land use, and these coal mines will gradually resume normal production.
Experts of the Transportation and Marketing Association believe that with the acceleration of coal mine procedures and the acceleration of production capacity verification, policies and measures to increase coal production and supply will gradually take effect, and the release of high-quality coal production capacity will accelerate, and coal mines in main producing areas will effectively play the main role of increasing production and ensuring supply. Coal production is expected to maintain growth.
The import coal market has also been active recently. Data show that the country imported 28.05 million tons of coal in August, a year-on-year increase of 35.8%. It is reported that relevant parties will continue to increase coal imports to meet the needs of key domestic users and people’s livelihood coal.
On the demand side, thermal power generation in August fell by 1% month-on-month, and the pig iron output of key steel companies fell by 1% month-on-month and about 3% year-on-year. The month-on-month production of the building materials industry also showed a downward trend. Affected by this, the growth rate of my country’s coal consumption dropped significantly in August.
According to data from third-party organizations, since September, except for Jiangsu and Zhejiang where the load factor of power plants has remained at a high level, the load factor of power plants in Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, and Shanghai has dropped significantly from mid-August.
Regarding the supply of winter storage coal, industry experts believe that certain challenges are still faced. For example, the current low social inventory problem has not been resolved. With strict supervision of coal mine safety, environmental protection, land and other links will be normalized, coal production capacity in some areas will be released or continue. Restricted. In order to ensure coal supply and price stability, coordination among multiple departments is needed.