Coal news and updates

QHD coal shipment back to normal after bad weather

Coal shipment at China’s top transfer port of Qinhuangdao has resumed, after strong winds forced the port to close, leading to slump in outbound shipment and a jump in stocks.

With the port having resumed operation, coal outbound shipment from Qinhuangdao recovered to 0.75million tonnes on November 9.

A total 57 hours of port closure over November 5-7 greatly reduced coal handling at the port. In the week ending November 8, an average of 0.41 million tonnes coal was shipped out of Qinhuangdao each day, with no shipping record on November 7 amid all-day port closure.

As a result, many vessels were seen stranded at the port, reaching 53 on November 9, the highest since October 22.

This compared with a daily outbound shipment of 0.6 million tonnes a week ago on average, representing a week-on-week decrease of 31.7%.

Over November 2-8, the port received an average of 0.53 million tonnes coal railings each day, 1.9% more than the week before.

Inactive handling pegged recent coal stocks at Qinhuangdao at high levels, reaching 7.16 million tonnes on November 8, up 13.5% from the start of the month, the highest since October 23.

Caofeidian port was also shut for 54 hours over November 5-8, but the effect on stocks was limited as coal vessels had stayed low on flat buying interest for a long time. On November 9, coal stocks at Caofeidian fell 9.6% on week to 3.38 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, adverse weather caused a 68-hour shipment suspension at the SDIC Jingtang port from November 5 to 8, leading to a 28.6% rise in port stocks at 2.25 million tonnes on November 9.

Though winter heating demand in northern areas may provide some support to the thermal coal market, it may still be hard for China to digest an excess of supply amid economic downward pressure.

Besides, high downstream stocks also would weigh on buying interest in thermal coal. On November 9, coal stocks at power plants under the six coastal utilities fell 1.3% from the previous week to 12.98 million tonnes, enough to cover 25 days of consumption, one day less than a week ago; daily coal use rose 6% on week to 0.53 million tonnes.
 
source: http://en.sxcoal.com