What’s new: China’s coal inventories hit a two-year high in the first week of December, according to power producers surveyed by the China Electricity Council (CEC).
By the week ending on Dec. 2, coal stores reached 107.26 million tons, up 3.44% week-on-week, and were enough to supply the surveyed companies’ coal-fired plants for 22.1 days, according to a weekly report (link in Chinese) published Monday. In late October, the figure was at 15.5 days.
The CEC is an industrial organization founded by the State Council and has 1,037 member companies, including major state-owned electricity producers like China Southern Power Grid Co. Ltd. and State Grid Corp. of China.
“Coal inventories are almost saturated,” the CEC said in the report, as coal producers maintained high yield while the coal consumption dropped a lot compared with the same period last year. However, the CEC also mentioned that the pace of growth is slowing.
Background: In a separate a few weeks ago, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said coal inventories had reached 147 million tons as of Nov. 23, and it expected the coal storage to hit an all-time high by the end of November.
Starting in late September, many parts of China suffered severe power shortages, due to factors such as a shortfall in the coal supply, an export boom, and local government efforts to curtail industrial energy consumption and meet carbon-reduction goals.
In late October, coal mines were urged by the NDRC to operate at full capacity in the fourth quarter to achieve a daily output of at least 12 million tons. As of Oct. 24, coal inventory at power plants reached 95.69 million tons, or 17 million tons higher than levels at the end of September, according to a statement (link in Chinese) by the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association.
Contact reporter Manyun Zou (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
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