China may delay coal exports on power shortages
By Nao
Nakanishi
HONG KONG, Jan 24 (Reuters) - China may delay coal exports to help relieve severe power shortages ahead of the Lunar New Year early next month, traders said on Thursday, further tightening strained supply in Asia that has driven prices to record highs. Beijing has called on miners and those involved in transport to make supplying domestic power generators a top priority, as plants struggle to secure coal and others shut down capacity rather than generate electricity at a loss....Delays in Chinese exports would help miners, including Australia, who are about to begin talks on 2008 term prices with power generators and are seeking large increases to keep pace with near-record spot prices....The rapid increases in Chinese spot prices since the start of the year has narrowed the gap with international prices, triggering some enquiries by power generators in southern China for imports from Indonesia....
Though Indonesian coal around $85 a tonne, including costs and freights, seem competitive, compared with nearly $90 of domestic coal, the power generators are hesitating to pay such prices due to Beijing's cap on electricity prices.
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