China's coal output, demand and delivery in rapid growth since 2011, NDRC - Xinhua

China's coal output, demand and delivery has maintain a rapid growth since the beginning of this y ear while coal supply and demand generally stay balanced despite regio nal tight supply,

according to statistics released by the National Dev elopment and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
Since this year, the country's coal price remained stable, NDRC said.
NDRC statistics also show that in the first two months of 2011, China's coal output increased by 13.5 percent on year to 516 mi llion tonnes and coal sales up 7.1 percent on year to 497 million tonn es. Coal output in February surged 20.1 percent to 247 million tonnes and coal sales.

Currently, China's domestic coal demand and supply are ke eping balanced. In January-February, China imported 23.23 million tonn es of coal, down 18.8 percent on year, and the exports stood at 3.19 m illion tonnes, down 7.3 percent, leaving 20.13 million tonnes of net imports.

Meanwhile, coal stocks of coal producers rose by 20.3 per cent on year to 46.3 million tonnes by the end of February, and coal s tocks at major ports up 35.9 percent on year to 24.71 million tonnes a nd those at power plants up 9.1 percent on year to 53.86 million tonne s, enough for 16 days' use.

In terms of coal transportation, China's coal delivery by railway stood at 170 million tonnes in February and amounted to 363 m illion tonnes in January-February, up 11.8 percent on year. Coal throu ghput at major ports came to 43.78 million tonnes in February and 96.8 9 million tonnes in January-February, up 24.9 percent on year.

As the peak season for heating passes by, 5500-kilocalori e power coal price at Qinhuangdao Port has dropped 20 yuan/tonne from the beginning of this year to 765-775 yuan/tonne by the end of Februar y. Coal price at Guangzhou Port declined 30 yuan/tonne to 820-840 yuan/tonne.

However, coal consumption at power plants rebounded rapid ly since March, approaching the peak level in January. Coal prices hav e also picked up an up-going trend. 5500-kilocalorie power coal price at Qinhuangdao Port has reached 770-780 yuan/tonnes, up 5 yuan/tonne f rom end-February and staying at the same level with end-January.

Wu Jie, analyst with Oriental Securities predicted that C hina will see greater coal demand with rapid economic growth and devel opment of coal-consuming industries as well as stockpiles of downstrea m power plants before the coming of peak season for coal consumption.

At the meantime, factory operating rate in north China wi ll recover since the second quarter of 2011 and steel demand will acco rdingly rise up, which will boost demand for coking coal.