Coal stocks at China's major Bohai Sea ports slip, ending 7-week uptrend

Huaihua, Hunan (Platts)--25Jun2012
Coal stocks at China's four major Bohai Sea ports ended a seven-week uptrend and slipped slightly in the week to June 24, data released Monday by Qinhuangdao port showed.

On June 24, the four ports of Qinhuangdao, Caofeidian, Jingtang, and Tianjin, held a total 21.14 million mt of coal, down 0.4% week on week from 21.22 million mt on June 17.

Low buying activity from downstream power plants has led to lower coal stocks at the above ports, the statement said.

Combined coal stocks at six major power generators in eastern and southern China -- Zhejiang Power, Shanghai Power, Guangdong Power, Datang and Huaneng -- averaged 16.16 million mt in the week to June 19, down 2.6% week on week, according to a June 21 report by Qinhuangdao port.

The stocks can last for 27.6 days at the power plants, down one day week on week.

Qinhuangdao's coal stocks stood at 9.08 million mt on June 24, down 2.4% week on week, compared to a record high of 9.47 million mt seen on June 13. Caofeidian's coal stocks dropped 5.2% week on week to 2.92 million mt June 24. Coal stocks at Tianjin Port slipped by 0.9% week on week to 3.72 million mt. Jingtang's coal stocks, however, jumped 6.7% week on week to 5.42 million mt on June 24.

The number of vessels in queue at the four ports totaled 106 on June 24, down from 111 on June 17, 124 on June 10, and 133 on June 3, the statement said.

There were 84 vessels waiting in queue at Qinhuangdao port on Sunday, down by seven week on week. Jingtang port had nine vessels in the queue, up by two, while Tianjin port had 11 vessels in queue, down by one, and Caofeidian port had two vessels in queue, up by one.

Meanwhile, coal stocks at Fangcheng Port in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a key import facility for coal from South Africa, stood at 6.5 million mt on Monday, slightly up from 6.4 million mt a week ago, and 6.3 million mt on June 11, according to a source at Fangcheng Port.

Stocks at Fangcheng Port stabilized at about 6.5 million mt from late May to early June, down from 6.7 million mt on May 21 and 6.95 million mt on May 14, as reported previously. These stocks compare with 7 million mt in mid-April, 6.8 million mt on March 30, 7.2 million mt on March 19, and a high of about 8 million mt in late February.

--Reggie Le,
--Edited by Haripriya Banerjee