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China sets 2022 annual thermal coal prices at 700 yuan/t – media

China’s top economic planner has proposed to set annual thermal coal prices for 2022 at between 550 yuan and 850 yuan ($86-$133) per tonne, and has told miners and power plants to maximise signing up next year’s supplies via term contracts, Chinese media Caixin reported on Friday.

At a national coal trade fair on Friday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) set the benchmark 5,500 kilocal coal at 550-850 yuan per tonne for 2022, including the mean of prices ex-port at 700 yuan, as per the Caixin report.

Since late-October, Beijing has rolled out a series of interventions, including setting an immediate ex-mine price target and ordering rapid boost in production to cool red-hot prices, measures that have proven effective in easing a power shortage much feared of for this winter.

The NDRC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At 700 yuan, it compared to an earlier market expectation of 535 yuan and this year’s average at around 640 yuan, said a Singapore-based Chinese coal trader.

“We see the new term prices a result of rounds of negotiations between miners and utilities. For traders, at least it offers some level of price clarity going forward,” said the trader.

Using a mechanism of a benchmark price plus a floating range, the 2022 annual prices are subjected for monthly re-adjustments, the report added.

Power plants are asked to sign up full amount of supplies under term agreements except for the volumes they secure via imports.

Chinese thermal coal futures last traded at 854 yuan/tonne at 0700 GMT on Friday. The contract has largely traded rangebound between 800 and 1,000 yuan over the past month, having halved from record at nearly 2,000 yuan in mid-October.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; editing by Uttaresh.V)

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