Posted on 21 Dec 2020
The operating rate of the 110 Chinese metallurgical coal wash plants surveyed weekly by Mysteel slid by another 1.1 percentage points on week to 73.2% as of December 15, or refreshing the low since March 4, Mysteel data published on Wednesday showed. The further decline reflected the output restrictions imposed on plants in East China and facility maintenance in North China, according to the survey.
As of December 15, the total output of met coal processed by the 110 plants had decreased 15,200 tonnes/day on week to 607,900 t/d, a low since February 25, Mysteel’s data showed.
Over the survey period of December 9-15, coal processors in East China were ordered to slow operations to curtail pollution, after air quality in the region had deteriorated. Meanwhile, some coal processors in North China’s Inner Mongolia suspended their operations, chiefly due to the limited availability of Mongolian raw coal for their plants.
Mongolian coal exports to China are at a low level because of measures adopted by the Ulan Bator government to contain the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic situation in Mongolia began deteriorating in late November, as Mysteel Global reported.
Over the same December 9-15, period, coal mining and processing operations in Chongqing in Southwest China remained idled for coal mine safety checks after the serious mining accident on December 4, according to Mysteel’s survey.
As for processed met coal stocks held by the 110 coal processors, the volume dipped by 25,900 tonnes on week to a three-week low of 2.3 million tonnes as of December 15, mainly owing to the fast decline of stocks at sampled plants in Inner Mongolia and in Hebei in North China, the survey showed.
“The market is hot,” commented a market source based in North China’s Shanxi. “End-users have been busy with coking coal procurement, noting the decline of supply, though domestic coal prices are firming,” he explained.
As of December 15, Mysteel’s national composite coking coal price had increased by Yuan 9.2/tonne ($1.4/t) on week to Yuan 1,061.6/t including the 13% VAT, hitting a high since April 28.
Written by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Source:Mysteel Global
