The continued oversupply in China's coal market in the past few months is due to decreased coal consumption, increased coal output and high coal stocks at power plants, Wu Yin, vice director of China's National Energy Administration said, Chinese media reported Friday.
Wu was speaking at the 2012 China International Forum and Expo on Coal Industry held in Beijing on October 11-12.
According to NEA figures, China mined 2.57 billion mt of coal over January-August, up 4.4% year on year. In the same period, China consumed a total of 2.71 billion mt of coal, up 1.4% year on year. At the end of September, China's key power plants held 90.32 million mt of coal, or 29 days stocks, up 12 days, or 70.6%, year on year.
The slowdown in China's high energy-consuming sectors, mainly steelmaking and cement manufacturing, was behind the drop in China's electricity and coal demand, Wu said.
Additionally, increased hydropower output and coal imports had worsened the coal oversupply position in China, Wu said. Over January-August, China's hydropower output rose 20.6% year on year to 489.0 billion kWh, according to figures from the China Electricity Council.
China imported 185.42 million mt of coal over January-August, a year-on-year jump of 46.3%, Platts reported earlier. In the same period, China exported 6.92 million mt of coal, down 36.6% year on year.
