By Bloomberg News
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Coal prices at Qinhuangdao, a Chinese benchmark, rose for the first time in four months as bad weather hampered supplies and power stations replenished inventories depleted during summer.
The price of power-station coal with an energy value of 5,500 kilocalories per kilogram gained 0.7 percent to between 715 yuan and 725 yuan ($108) a metric ton as of yesterday from Sept. 15, according to data released by the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association on its website. The association didn’t publish prices last week because of national holidays.
China’s power plants typically stockpile coal ahead of winter and summer to cope with increased demand during the two seasons. Coal prices rebounded as typhoons and strong winds this month disrupted supply plans for utilities looking to build up inventories used up during the warm season, the association said in a report on its website yesterday.
Stockpiles at Qinhuangdao, which ships half of China’s seaborne coal, fell 4 percent to 7.8 million tons as of Sept. 24 compared with a week earlier, according to data provider Shanghai Steelhome Information. Inventories rose 76 percent between April 30 and Sept. 17, the data showed.
–Chua Baizhen. Editors: Jane Lee, Ryan Woo.