China has stabilized daily coal production above 12 million tonnes since the winter heating season started, as part of a drive to secure domestic energy supply, according to a senior official from the national economic planning body in a press briefing on January 13.
Meanwhile, coal reserve capacity has been significantly improved, with reserves under the government control rising to 50 million tonnes; coal stockpiles have been maintained at a high level of 175 million tonnes so far, equivalent to 22 days of use, according to Lian Weiliang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Since the onset of the heating season from mid-November, China's daily power generation averaged 23.62 TWh, with the highest at 25.5 TWh, managing to strike a balance between supply and demand, Lian said.
China also added domestic natural gas output by 10 billion cubic meters in 2022, and built the gas storage capacity to more than 32 billion cubic meters. By far, there are still 20 bcm of gas left in all kinds of storages. The daily gas consumption averaged 1.15 bcm so far in the heating season, with the highest at 1.3 bcm/d.
With efforts from multiple parties, China has well dealt with several cold spells since the onset of the winter, ensuring energy supply in a steady and orderly manner, Lian said.
Despite volatile under the impact of the global coal market, China's domestic thermal coal prices have been well contained. In December, the composite coal purchasing prices by key power generators averaged 846 yuan/t ($111.7/t) on a delivered-to-plant basis with VAT, basis 5,500 Kcal/kg NAR, NDRC said on its website.
As of January 13, the spot 5,500 Kcal/kg NAR was traded at around 1,200 yuan/t FOB with VAT northern transfer ports, while for cargoes under medium- and long-term contracts, which take the bulk of supply to the power sector, were capped at 770 yuan/t FOB with VAT.
On the same day, Newcastle 5,500 Kcal/kg NAR thermal coal was traded around $130-135/t FOB.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Tammy Yang)
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