Coal stocks at major Chinese power generators fall on higher demand

Huaihua, Hunan (Platts)--15Nov2012/327 am EST/827 GMT


Combined coal stocks at six major power generators in eastern and southern China averaged 13.705 million mt/day in the week ended Tuesday, down 1.3% from the previous seven-day period, Qinhuangdao Port said Thursday in a weekly report.

The stocks held by Zhejiang Power, Shanghai Power, Guangdong (Yudean) Power, Guodian, Datang and Huaneng could cover an average of 22.6 days of consumption at their power plants, down 1.1 days week on week, the report said.

Of the six, Zhejiang Power's average daily coal stocks edged up 0.3% week on week to 4.030 million mt Tuesday. Guangdong Power's stocks, however, dropped 5.1% to 1.485 million mt; and Shanghai Power's stocks dropped 3.8% to 489,300 mt.

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Guodian's average daily coal stocks dropped 2.1% to 3.381 million mt in the week ended Tuesday; Huaneng's stocks fell 2.2% to 3.384 million mt; and Datang's rose 6.3% to 936,300 mt.

The six power generators consumed a combined 4.250 million mt of coal, or an average 607,200 mt/day, in the week to Tuesday, up 3.5% week on week. Zhejiang Power's average coal consumption rose 6.3% week on week to 111,300 mt/day; Guangdong Power's rose 1.5% to 71,100 mt/day; and Shanghai Power's went up 4.2% to 25,000 mt/day. Guodian's average coal consumption slipped 1.6% week on week to 119,800 mt/day. Huaneng's edged up 2.6% to 184,800 mt/day; and Datang's 11% to 95,100 mt/day.

Zhejiang Power, Guangdong Power and Shanghai Power are regional electricity generators whereas the rest are national power generators.

Combined coal stocks at all key power plants across the country totaled 94.03 million mt as of October 23, able to cover an average of 31 days of burning, according to figures from the National Development and Reform Commission released on October 30.

--Reggie Le, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by E Shailaja Nair, shailaja_nair@platts.com