China Coal Supply Still Short in 2005

China Needs Substantial Rise In Coal Imports - Economist
01-17-05 09:51 PM EST

BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- China will need to import substantially more
coal in order to cope with an expansion in coal-fired power generating
capacity, according to a recent report by investment bank Morgan
Stanley.

Coal imports will "double in every two years for the foreseeable
future," predicted Andy Xie, an economist with the bank.

China's coal imports rose by 69% in 2004 to 19 million metric tons,
but this accounted for just 1.0% of coal demand, he said.

In 2004, China consumed about 1.9 billion tons of coal, a sharp 20%
increase from the year before.

Xie suggested China take two measures to satisfy increasing coal demand.

First it should increase coal imports, and second, it should launch a
multiyear capital expenditure program to modernize the coal-mining
industry.

China's coal sector had long been underinvested as a result of low
coal prices that had been prevalent until 2004, he said.

In the report, Xie also said he expects coal prices in China will rise
because of higher output costs, in part due to the need for
modernization and for tougher safety measures.

In China, it costs the lives of five or six miners to produce 1
million tons of coal, Xie said.

-China Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588-5848; djnews.beijing@ dowjones.com
(Jane Yu contributed to this article.)
Dow Jones Newswires/01-17-05 2151ET /Copyright (C) 2005 Dow Jones &
Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Coal Supply Still Short in 2005
Feb. 2

According to China Coal Industry Institute, the demand for coal should
be more than 2.1 billion tons in this year while the production
capability of those security mines is only 1.2 billion tons in total.

Mr. Pu Hongjiu, the vice chairman of Institute, said that the conflict
between the supply and demand will be sharper this year.
The latest statistics show that the coal stock of some power plant is
only for 8 days' use in January. Some power plants even stock coal for
only 1 or 2 days' use. These power plants may be closed at any time
for short of coal.

7,402 contracts have been confirmed in the 2005 Buying Fair with the
contract coal of 914mt, an increase of 80mt over the previous year.
618 mt coal are key contract coal, rose by 30% over the past year.
[ From ]sxcoal.com

5 factors caused China coal supply tightness
June 22, 2004

The coal stock has been continuing to fall during the first 5 months
of this year, and particularly, the the conditions of power coal
supply-demand is increasingly critical. Jingtianliang, the general
manager of the China National Coal Group Corporationsaid analytically,
the regional tightness in China coal supply mainly resulted form five
factors, which are the strong demand, short potential, transportation
restriction, price conflict and production safety.