Storage of coal in key power plants has broken 80 million tons

Recently, the coal stocks of key power plants in China have risen rapidly. The coal stocks have exceeded 80 million tons. In the case of low daily consumption and coal supply exceeding coal consumption, the stocks are still rising. The data show that as of May 20, 2019, the coal stock of key power plants in China was 81.97 million tons, with an increase of 2.3 million tons annually, an increase of 16.72 million tons over the same period last year, a supply of 4.24 million tons of coal on the same day, a consumption of 3.07 million tons of coal on the same day, and a storage period of 25 days. As for the six coastal power plants, as of May 23, the average daily coal consumption of the six power plants was 592,000 tons, a decrease of 27,000 tons compared with the same period last week, a decrease of 193,000 tons compared with the same period last year; the coal inventory was 16,159 tons, a decrease of 163,000 tons compared with the same period last week, an increase of 33,310 tons compared with the same period last year; the available days were 273 days, an increase of 0.9 days over the same period last week, an increase of 11 days over the same period last year. At present, the demand for power coal is in the traditional off-season. Although the national temperature has risen significantly since yesterday, according to the data, the growth rate of thermal power has declined and the substitution effect of new energy such as hydro-wind power has increased.

In the case of increasing rainfall in the south, daily consumption is not expected to increase too much, and downstream demand is still weak in the short term. Moreover, the power plant is still dominated by the Changxie Coal due to the restriction of the Changxie Coal Contract, and the demand for coal in the market is flat. Under the weak demand, the main producing areas and many places all indicated that the sales of electric coal were not good, and some of them had a downward trend, especially the prices of some coal in the main producing areas were on the high side and had a downward trend. But at the end of the current month, some of the coal seats in Shaanxi coal mines are in urgent need again. Shuangshan and Shenshuban coal mines have suspended sales. At the same time, there are still many coal mines that have not resumed production and resources are still not loose. It is expected that the coal price will go down, but the downward space is relatively limited.

In summary, the supply and demand of the power coal market are weak before the peak season, temporarily weak and stable after a partial downward adjustment, and activities such as peak season and 70th anniversary in the later period of the future may be tightened again to push up the price of coal.