Combined coal stocks at major sea ports along northern China's Bohai Sea rim rose for the second consecutive week, up 234,000 mt or 1.7% week on week to 13.623 million mt Sunday, a statement issued Monday by Qinhuangdao Port showed.
High coal stocks at downstream power plants have underpinned the slight rise in coal stocks at the major Bohai Sea ports, the statement said.
Qinhuangdao Port's coal stocks stood at 5.65 million mt on May 13, unchanged week on week; Jingtang Port's coal stocks dropped 1.3% to 2.32 million mt; Caofeidian Port's coal stocks rose 5.6% to 2.26 million mt; and Tianjin Port's coal stocks edged up 4.4% to 3.39 million mt.
The number of vessels queuing at the four ports totaled 126 on May 13, down from 177 a week ago, according to the statement. There were 85 vessels queuing at Qinhuangdao on May 13, down by 40 week on week; Jingtang had 16 vessels in the queue, down by two; Tianjin had 20 vessels, down by three; and Caofeidian had five vessels, down by six.
Meanwhile, coal stocks at Fangcheng Port in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a key import facility for coal from South Africa, stood at 6.95 million mt on Monday, slightly up from 6.9 million mt a week earlier, but down from about 7 million mt in mid-April, according to a Guangdong-based trader citing port figures. These stocks compare to 6.8 million mt on March 30, 7.2 million mt on March 19, and a high of slightly over 8 million mt in late February.
Source: Platts