China's Qinhuangdao port coal stocks near record

SHANGHAI, Nov 12 - Coal stocks at Qinhuangdao, China's top coal shipping port, rose nearly to record levels on Wednesday, after the sharpest weekly fall in prices.

Coal stocks rose to 9.14 million tonnes on Wednesday morning, up 1 percent from the day before, close to a record of 9.16 million tonnes reached last weekend, according to www.cqcoal.com, a market information website operated by a domestic business venture.

"Power plants have very high coal stocks, enough for 23 days of use," said Henry Liu, an analyst with Macquarie Bank.

China's power generation in October fell by about 0.5 percent from a year earlier, due to slumping demand from industries.

Spot prices at Qinhuangdao fell 8 percent from a week earlier. Coal with a calorific value of 5,800 kcal/kg traded at 810-830 yuan ($118.6-$121.5) per tonne on Wednesday.

But Liu noted there was a regional imbalance in coal stocks.

"Coastal regions have higher stocks, as power demand from export-oriented industries, with high concentration in these regions, slowed down," Liu said.

"The interior of China still has slightly tight coal supply."

Liu and other industry officials also said high-quality coal was still in demand, as power plants were more interested in buying such coal to improve the efficiency of power generation. ($1=6.830 Yuan)