Multiple ministries and commissions to control and promote the rational return of coal prices
Severely crack down on illegal activities such as fabricating and spreading price increase information to hoard odds
□ Our reporter Wan Jing
Since the end of September, many provinces across the country have cut power cuts, and related topics such as “electricity shortage” and “coal prices rising all the way” have become the focus of general attention from all walks of life. The cost of coal, electricity, oil and gas has soared. In particular, the irrational soaring of coal prices has not only greatly increased the production costs of downstream industries, but also has an adverse impact on the guarantee of energy supply such as power in winter and the warmth of the people through the winter.
After the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration of Market Supervision and other departments intensive regulation, my country’s coal production capacity has been further released. Recently, the reporter learned from the National Development and Reform Commission that my country’s coal production hit a high of 11.93 million tons, and the overall increase in supply and storage has provided strong support for a reasonable range of coal prices. At the same time, in early November, the number of days available for coal storage in power plants nationwide reached 20 days. According to industry insiders, this means that there is no danger of coal shortage, and my country’s worries about “electricity shortage” and “heating with electricity” can be alleviated.
Hit the control combo punch
According to industry insiders, 20 days of coal storage days in power plants is an iconic indicator, which means that there is no danger of coal shortage. On the whole, the safe and stable supply of coal, electricity, oil and gas will be guaranteed this winter and next spring.
Behind all this is inseparable from the efforts of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments to regulate and coordinate closely.
In order to maintain supply and stabilize prices, the National Development and Reform Commission has taken intensive actions since October 19 to guide and control behaviors such as the rise of coal prices beyond the fundamentals of demand and market speculation. Sorting out the timeline, the determination and strength of the National Development and Reform Commission to curb coal prices are clear at a glance.
On October 19, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a series of three articles to study the implementation of intervention measures on coal prices in accordance with the law; organized a symposium for key coal, power, oil and gas transportation companies to ensure supply and price stability; surveyed the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, emphasizing strengthening supervision in accordance with the law and severely investigating capital Malicious speculation on thermal coal futures.
On October 20, the National Development and Reform Commission again issued three articles, respectively organizing trips to Hebei’s Qinhuangdao Port and Hebei’s Caofeidian Port to supervise coal supply and price stabilization; surveys in Hebi Park, Henan Coal Storage and Distribution Center Disrupt the order of the market economy.
On October 22, the National Development and Reform Commission held a special meeting to study policies and measures to stop coal companies from making huge profits; organized a symposium on the rational use of energy by key industrial enterprises to study the rational use of energy in the industrial sector and the work of ensuring supply and price stability.
On October 27, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that in accordance with the unified deployment of the inter-ministerial coordination mechanism for coal, electricity, oil and gas transportation, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Market Supervision formed 4 joint inspection teams to go to the main coal producing areas of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Mongolia and Qinhuangdao. The major northern ports such as Hong Kong and other northern coal ports carry out special supervision of coal spot market prices.
The inspection team will go deep into coal mines, trading markets, shipping stations, coal storage yards, wharf yards, coal trading companies, and coal users to conduct on-site investigations of coal spot market prices, supervise relevant market entities to operate in compliance with laws and regulations, and promote a stable coal spot market healthy growth. Adhere to the “zero tolerance” attitude, conduct interviews with regions and companies that have not strictly implemented the requirements for coal supply and price stabilization, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as fabricating, disseminating price increase information, hoarding, driving up prices, and price collusion, and promoting coal spot market prices Accelerate the return to a reasonable range and effectively maintain market order.
The inspection team will also supervise and inspect major coal-producing areas and enterprises to increase production and supply, signing and fulfilling medium- and long-term contracts, cleaning up illegal coal storage sites, and ensuring the people’s warmth through the winter, and urge all relevant parties to effectively improve their political positions and establish We are aware of the overall situation, actively fulfill our social responsibilities, release production capacity in accordance with laws and regulations, go all out to increase production, strictly implement medium and long-term coal contracts, strengthen the connection between production and transportation needs, ensure a stable supply of coal, and ensure the people’s warmth through the winter.
In addition to the National Development and Reform Commission, many ministries and commissions have also introduced corresponding policies. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission have successively stated that they will keep the bottom line of coal storage safety for 7 days, curb excessive speculation and eliminate malicious capital speculation, and urge financial institutions to provide reasonable credit to eligible coal power, coal, heating and other enterprises and projects Support etc. The State Administration of Taxation also announced that all taxes payable by coal-fired power and heating companies in the fourth quarter will be deferred.
Conduct cost-benefit surveys
While stepping up the pace of regulation and supervision, the National Development and Reform Commission also quickly carried out industry cost-benefit surveys. On this basis, it studied and improved the coal market price formation mechanism, and strengthened the connection with the coal-fired power generation market-based electricity price mechanism to guide coal prices. Long-term stability in a reasonable range, to promote the sustained and coordinated and healthy development of the coal and power industries.
In this regard, Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of the China International Economic Exchange Center, believes that price, as an “invisible hand”, is always the basis for the market to allocate resources. The market must be used to balance supply and demand and to allocate resources. Strong regulation is a short-term intervention method. From a long-term perspective of high-quality development, reforms must be further deepened, especially in the market-oriented reform of the coal power sector, and greater efforts should be made in overall planning and coordination.
At the end of October, the National Development and Reform Commission conducted a survey of coal production costs in all coal-producing provinces and key coal enterprises across the country, and showed that coal production costs are significantly lower than the current coal spot prices, and there is room for continued corrections in coal prices.
In order to further strengthen the joint supervision of the coal futures and spot market, reduce excessive coal prices to a reasonable level as soon as possible, and return the coal market to a rational level, the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission organizes local cost surveys on coal production and circulation companies, together with price cost surveys The center formed a number of investigation teams to conduct field investigations on key coal production enterprises and circulation enterprises in relevant provinces to provide a basis for determining a reasonable range of coal prices and preventing coal enterprises from making huge profits.
The investigation team will conduct a comprehensive investigation of the production costs, profits, output, inventory, and prices of relevant coal production enterprises in accordance with the law, and conduct in-depth inspections on the purchase and sale prices, circulation costs, profits, and inventory of the circulation enterprises. The National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments to crack down on illegal activities such as price bidding, hoarding, colluding to manipulate market prices, and fabricating and disseminating price increase information found in the investigation.
At the same time, some localities have flexibly used policy tools and adopted measures to start coal price cuts.
Shanxi, Shaanxi and Mongolia have long been among the top three coal producing provinces in the country. The growth of national coal production is naturally inseparable from the acceleration of coal production in the three major coal-producing regions of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Mongolia.
In order to implement the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on ensuring coal supply and price stabilization and ensuring the warmth of the people through the winter, Shanxi Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Shaanxi Province have taken multiple measures to promote the rational return of coal prices. The Shanxi Coal Industry Association issued a proposal for stabilizing coal prices and ensuring supply to coal companies in the province, requiring coal companies to stabilize prices and reduce prices, curb the excessive rise of coal prices, and maintain the smooth operation of the coal market.
The Energy Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Ordos Municipal Government jointly held a special video conference on coal supply and price stabilization, advocating coal production enterprises to reduce coal prices, and the enterprises fully responded, and the market coal prices have gradually decreased.
The Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Market Supervision Administration jointly issued a notice requiring coal companies to actively perform their social responsibilities and strictly perform medium and long-term contracts. Companies take active actions. Most companies take the initiative to lower the price of coal traded in the market, and provide downstream companies with products that match the quality and price based on actual production and circulation costs, consciously regulate operations in accordance with the law, and jointly maintain the order of coal market prices.
The supply and demand pattern is moving towards equilibrium
Under the intensive control of a series of supply guarantee policies, the supply and demand pattern of the coal market is moving towards equilibrium, and prices are accelerating to return to a reasonable range.
According to data from the National Development and Reform Commission, with the release of nuclear coal production capacity increase, the gradual commissioning of the construction of coal mines, and the temporary shutdown of coal mine production, coal production has continued to increase since October, and the average daily coal output from November 1 to 5 reached 11.66 million tons. , An increase of more than 1.2 million tons from the end of September, the highest daily output reached 11.93 million tons, a record high in recent years.
At the same time, the coal sources for power generation and heating enterprises have been fully implemented, and the signing rate of medium and long-term contracts has basically achieved full coverage. Two times to organize power generation and heating enterprises to sign up for the fourth quarter coal medium and long-term contracts, coordinate the coal-producing provinces, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Mongolia to implement a new coal source of 150 million tons, and achieve full coverage of medium and long-term coal contracts for power generation and heating enterprises. As of November 6, the coverage of medium and long-term coal contracts for power and heating enterprises in various provinces, regions, and municipalities has exceeded 90%, of which 24 provinces, regions and cities have reached 100%.
The level of coal storage in power plants nationwide has been rapidly improved. On November 3, 112 million tons of coal was stored in power plants nationwide, and the available days reached 20 days. Especially since October 19, the coal supply of power plants has repeatedly set new highs, with coal supply exceeding coal consumption up to 2.3 million tons, and coal storage in power plants has rapidly increased, which will effectively guarantee the demand for coal for power generation and heating, and ensure that the people stay warm through the winter.
The surge in coal prices has also been curbed. Many private companies such as Inner Mongolia Yitai Group, Mengtai Group, Huineng Group and Xinglong Group took the initiative to lower the price of pit coal. Subsequently, state-owned enterprises such as National Energy Group and China Coal Group also took the initiative to lower coal prices. From the perspective of market monitoring, since late October, coal prices in pits and ports across the country have dropped significantly.
The National Development and Reform Commission pointed out that with the increase in national coal production and supply, and the increase in coal stocks in power plants and ports, the spot price of thermal coal futures has fallen sharply. In the later stage, coal prices are expected to continue to decline steadily as coal production capacity is further released and coal production continues to increase, coupled with the reduction in power plant market purchases after the fulfillment of mid- and long-term contracts for thermal coal and the increase in coal storage.
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