Chaozhou City Yatai Energy Co., Ltd, the largest coal
importer in southwest China's Guangdong province, has stopped buying coal from
abroad due to heavy losses caused by steep price fall and mounting stocks of the
fuel it has imported, sources have said.
With some 1 million tonnes of imported coal in stock, the
company may suffer about 200 million yuan ($31 million) of book loss,
considering the recent slump in international coal prices.
Price of thermal coal at Australia's Newcastle,
the Asian benchmark, now has fallen down to $89/t, while South African coal of
6000 Kcal/kg is actually settled at $80/t plus, falling nearly 200 yuan/t
($31/t), one source noted.
One Guangxi-based trader disclosed that the price for Yatai
Energy's imported Columbian coal of 5500 Kcal/kg at Fangcheng port has fallen
to 700 yuan/t, but still 20 yuan/t higher than that of Guizhou coal, thus leaving
it nearly no price advantage.
The company, which says it imports about 12 million tonnes
coal annually on average, may have bought 13-15 million tonnes coal from
overseas countries in 2011 or 7-8% of China's total imports, speculated one
trader.
Beside Yatai Energy, several other large coal traders in the
province could have suffered losses above100 million yuan ($16 million) from
high inventories amid sharp price drop, and thus have to choose to default on
import and domestically purchase contracts.
Source:CCR
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