Chinese coal miners plan to lobby concerned authorities to release tariff policies to restrict coal import of the nation.
People in the know said in an interview on April 17 that coal miners in the market planned to lobby concerned authorities to release tariff policies to restrict coal import of the nation.
In line with industry observers, coal is encouraged to be imported by the nation and it shows a more prudential attitude towards releasing such policies especially after an international trade dispute on coke tariff. Dong Yan, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRX), the top Chinese price planner, said that it was not suitable for the nation to impose a tariff on imported coals and on the one hand, coals was a major energy and it would be appreciated provided that more was imported. And on the other hand, imported coals was welcome by the market and what concerned authorities should do was to well coordinate profit of concerned parties.
Coal price in the market began dropping sharply from 2012 after a 10-consecutive-year rise and that of coal of 5,500 Kcal per kilo at the Qinhuangdao Port reached CNY 630 to CNY 640 per ton as at the end of the year, down about CNY 170 per tons from the year start. Available data shows that net profit 90 large coal miners in the market reported for the fiscal year 2012 fell 22.3 percent from a year ago and 19 ones suffered a loss-making operation, accounting for 21.1 percent of the total, up 14.5 percentage points from a year earlier. And generally speaking, profitability of the domestic coal industry dropped and days of some coal miners was very hard.
While, the imports continued rising and last year, the nation imported a total of 290 million tons of coal, representing a yearly rise of 29.8 percent. Data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) shows that the imports surged up by 30 percent to 8,000 tons in the first quarter of this year. A top executive with a Hunan-based electricity generator disclosed that up to 30 percent of the fuels used by its subsidiaries were imported coals. A principal with a leading coal trader in the market pointed out that it was mainly engaged in the trade of coals produced by homegrown coal miners, but the profit was about zero currently. It thus began importing coals not long ago and the profit was CNY 20 to CNY 30 per ton currently.