Weak demand for steam coal prices fell again

Industry data show that the latest issue (December 5, 2012 to December 11, 2012) of the average thermal coal price in the Bohai Rim 5500 kcal market closed at RMB 638/ton, which is higher than the previous report (201211). From the 28th to the 4th of December, the cycle dropped by 2 yuan/ton.

Business community analyst Xinyu Xin believes that the current Bohai Sea coal market is still in a weak state. In the face of the current lukewarm market, many coal companies have chosen to use lower prices to win customers. At the same time, under the impact of foreign low-cost coal, the domestic coal price will not only meet the challenges of domestic demand but also the price war of foreign coal. The market is not optimistic.

Weak demand is the main reason why the price of thermal coal in the Bohai Sea has fallen again after maintaining stable for two weeks. Although the domestic economic situation is further improving, the consumption of electricity and coal and other energy resources has increased. However, the coal market oversupply pattern still drives the price of thermal coal to continue to decline, and it is difficult to change the loose market situation in the short term.

According to the business community monitoring, as of November 30, the country's key power plants stored 88.80 million tons of coal, available for 24 days, the overall situation is still in the ultra-high state. The coal stocks in the four ports around the Bohai Sea increased for seven consecutive weeks. As of December 10, the stock of coal in the four ports of the Bohai Rim was 17.189 million tons, an increase of 819,000 tons over the previous week, an increase of 5%.

In addition, although the international coal price temporarily rises, it will help support the current domestic coal price to a certain extent. However, the price of imported coal is still generally lower than that of domestic trade coal. In addition, the peak value of import coal at the end of the year is ushered in, which further inhibits the enthusiasm of domestic coal downstream coal purchasers.