High stocks of power plants accompany this year's coal market

Since this year, the daily consumption of power plants has declined and coal storage has increased substantially, resulting in greater pressure on the coal market to supply more than demand. Coal prices in the port market around the Bohai Sea remain at a low and medium level. So, what is the reason for the huge increase in coal storage of downstream users? In accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission, coal-fired power plants in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other major coal-producing areas consume no less than 15 days of coal in principle; coal-fired power plants in other areas consume no less than 20 days of coal in principle. In order to meet the needs of coal for summer, winter and major activities, relevant electric power enterprises should do well in coal storage ahead of time, and ensure that the minimum inventory level will be increased by 5-10 days on the basis of normal before the peak of coal use arrives. In accordance with this requirement, after the Spring Festival, when the off-season arrival of coal, power plants began to increase coal storage, vigorously increase the number of haulage and procurement, and hit the inventory to a high level.

Upstream advanced production capacity is released and coal supply is sufficient. Although safety and environmental protection inspection is increasingly stringent, upstream coal production and transportation are affected; but with the release of advanced coal production capacity, a large number of high-quality coal flows to the Bohai Rim Port, prompting timely coal supply. From January to July this year, China's Communist coal output was 2.08 billion tons, an increase of 4.3% over the same period last year. Among them, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi, the main coal-producing areas, together produced 1.465 billion tons of coal, an increase of 91.55 million tons over the same period last year.

Port transport capacity has been improved, coal turnover has been accelerated

This year, the Daqin Railway, Shuohuang Railway and Mengji Railway have continued to increase the volume of transport. Its supporting ports: Qinhuangdao Port and Huanghua Port have taken advantage of their strong collection and distribution capacity, and their production is close to full-load operation; Caofeidian Port transport capacity has been continuously improved, and ship turnover has been accelerated. Major coal ports improve the efficiency of loading and unloading, speed up cargo turnover, and better meet the downstream coal demand. Up to now, the total transport capacity of the nine major coal ports around the Bohai Sea is 773 million tons. In addition, in May, the Huadian Coal Terminal of Caofeidian Port began trial operation.

Import coal is cheap and the quantity remains high Although the import coal policy has been tightened continuously under the influence of factors such as total import quota control and tightening customs clearance environment, due to the low price advantage of import coal, some coastal power plants have been purchasing imported coal regularly, resulting in a significant increase in overall import. From January to July, China's imported coal still reached 187 million tons, an increase of 7% over the same period last year. This year, it is expected to exceed 300 million tons.

With the decrease of electricity load and coal consumption along with the migration of energy-intensive manufacturing industry from the eastern coast to the central and Western provinces, the demand for coastal power declines. In addition, with the transformation of the power industry to renewable energy, the coal-fired power generation of coastal power plants declines and the purchased electricity increases continuously.

In January-July, the average daily coal consumption of the six coastal power plants was only 627,000 tons, a decrease of 9.5% compared with the same period last year; in January-July, the average coal storage of the six coastal power plants was 16.33 million tons, an increase of 27.6% over the same period last year; and the available days of coal storage were 26.8 days, an increase of 8 days over the same period last year. In August, the average daily coal consumption of the six major coastal power plants rose to 752,000 tons, an increase of 71,000 tons over the previous year. However, due to the high inventory of power plants, even though daily consumption increased, the pull on the market was limited.

In the next few months of this year, the power plant will continue to maintain a high inventory status, thus curbing the rapid rise of domestic coal prices, with the increase of Changxie coal cashier rate, timely coal supply, smooth port transit, and the constant increase of imported coal.