[Epoch Times October 11, 2021](The Epoch Times reporters Xu Yiyang, Luo Ya, Zhang Zhongyuan interviewed and reported) Shanxi Province, a major coal-producing province in China, has recently encountered rare heavy rainfall and blockage of reservoir flood channels, which has caused waterlogging in many parts of Shanxi. Floods and other disasters have caused more than 60 coal mines in the province to stop production, adding to the already tense coal power situation. People in Shanxi said that there is no coal in the place where coal is produced in Shanxi. Residents have not yet found coal for heating this winter.
From 20 o’clock on October 2 to 8 o’clock on October 7, large-scale heavy precipitation occurred in Shanxi. Most areas of Taiyuan, Yangquan, Linfen, Changzhi, Luliang, and Jinzhong set a record for the cumulative rainfall in the first ten days of October, and the largest precipitation occurred. In Daning County, Linfen City. Heavy rainfall has caused waterlogging, geological disasters, floods and other disasters in many places.
The Emergency Management Department of Shanxi Province announced on October 8 that due to heavy rainfall, 60 coal mines, 372 non-coal mines, and 14 hazardous chemical enterprises in the province were suspended due to the impact of heavy rainfall. The scenic spot is closed.
There is no coal for heating, the people worry about the winter without coal
He Lin (pseudonym), a local resident in Yuncheng, Shanxi, said in an interview with The Epoch Times reporter on October 10 that many places in the area were flooded. The water level on some streets was as deep as 3 meters, and the coal mines could be imagined. “Even if the rain stops, you have to use a pump to drain the water before you can go down the well. Don’t even think about it now. It’s all saving people and the house is flooded.”
He also said: “The focus now is to transfer the people out, and many places are in urgent need of supplies. As for when the coal mines will return to normal, it is still hard to say.”
Mr. Du, who lives in a rural village in Shanxi, also told The Epoch Times reporter that heavy rains caused river embankments to burst, reservoir floods, landslides, etc., killing more than a dozen people. He said that Shanxi has not experienced floods before, because Shanxi is traditionally a water-scarce province, but this year is very abnormal. It rained for four consecutive days and four nights. The flood discharge of the reservoir is because the river has not been cleaned for many years, the heavy rain has caused the river to be blocked, and the usual mismanagement makes it impossible to cope with sudden disasters.
Shanxi is a major coal-producing province in China, and the heavy rainfall has caused 60 coal mines in the province to stop production. In this regard, Mr. Du said that Shanxi used to have many private coal mines, but now they have all been purchased by the government and become state-owned coal mines. The person in charge of the state-owned coal mine did not dare to start production at full capacity because of fear of an accident, so the coal miners were assigned two or three hour shifts, as long as there was no accident.
“Therefore, there is a coal shortage in China. This situation did not exist in the past. Insufficient coal has led to a shortage of coal in power plants, and electricity is not enough, so large areas of electricity are curtailed. Closing the coal mine itself, the CCP is doing this, one When something happened, the government ordered a complete shutdown. As a result, 60 coal mines were shut down.” Mr. Du said.
Mr. Du also told reporters that there is a shortage of coal now. Heating coal (residential coal) used to be 300 yuan a ton (approximately US$46.6/ton), and now it is 1,500 yuan a ton (approximately US$233/ton), which is surprising! There is no coal in the place where coal is produced in Shanxi. The coal used by residents for heating this winter is a problem.
He said: “We haven’t found coal for heating in buildings in our community. We don’t know what to do at that time. The coal shortage is too big, and we are all worried now. The price of coal is so high. People are still freezing to death in the sky.”
Mr. Du said that there are still more kang-burning in rural areas. “Green energy is not up to the point. Rural areas are now very backward. What kind of coal-to-electricity is the government propaganda? How can it be changed? It’s all broken, the pipes are all useless, and they haven’t been done.”
The heavy rainfall caused water leakage in his house, so he went to the town government to ask if he could ask for some relief funds. But the mayor told him that the relief fund was very small, even less than the previous relief fund. “I saw a piece of news,” he said, “Shanxi Province today allocated 50 million in disaster relief funds, 50 million (approximately US$7.76 million), and 1.75 million people in Shanxi Province were affected. What is the use of 50 million?! ( The CCP) gave Venezuela 60 billion U.S. dollars and Shanxi people 50 million renminbi for disaster relief! What do you think this government did?! It’s incredible!”
“No matter what, the people who suffer are always the people. Officials can deceive and lie, because Chinese media are all government-run. As for independent media, we can’t talk about some sensitive topics. Fortunately, there are some self-media on the Internet. It’s very strict, I can’t post on Weibo now,” he said.
Coking coal may be very scarce
As a major coal-producing province in China, as of the end of January this year, Shanxi had a total of 670 coal mines. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China, Shanxi’s raw coal production was 1.063 billion tons last year, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year, exceeding one-quarter of China’s raw coal production, and surpassing Inner Mongolia in production to become China’s largest coal-producing province again.
Some analysts believe that the shutdown of these coal mines will aggravate the shortage of supply, and coking coal may enter a period of very tight shortage.
Recently, China’s independent coal market analyst Huang Teng admitted in an interview with a reporter from China’s financial newspaper “Times Weekly” that the recent supply and demand of coal in China and abroad have exceeded demand. The disaster caused some coal mines in Shanxi to stop production. It will make the supply shortage worse.
Since the end of August this year, especially since the end of September, power supply shortages have occurred in many parts of China, and power restrictions and production restrictions have occurred from time to time. An important reason for this is that coal power, the main power supply in China, has limited overall thermal power generation due to tight coal supply and demand and historical high prices of thermal coal.
In the context of high coal supply pressure, Shanxi shut down 60 coal mines. In this regard, Huang Teng said that the main steam coal production areas are located in Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, and that large state-owned coal mines can make up for part of the gap if they actively increase production. But in terms of coking coal, many coking coal mines in Shanxi are within the disaster area this time. It is difficult for other regions to increase production to make up for it. “Especially high-quality strong caking coal, I am afraid that it will enter a very short period of time.”
Shanxi bears the pressure of ensuring coal supply
Shanxi coal is under heavy pressure to ensure supply to the whole country. On October 9, the Shanxi Provincial Government held an on-site promotion meeting for the guarantee of supply of provincial coal and power companies to increase the supply of coal.
Wang Yixin, the vice governor of Shanxi Province, requires enterprises to “complete the task of ensuring the supply of coal and electricity without regard to conditions and without compromise.”
However, on the same day, the Shanxi Provincial Meteorological Service Center issued a document stating that it is expected that in the next three days, there will be a precipitation, strong wind and cooling weather in Shanxi, and the pressure of Shanxi’s coal supply will increase again.
The heavy rainfall in Shanxi caused the precipitation in 18 counties (cities, districts) in the province to exceed 200 mm, which caused a sharp increase in pressure in Shanxi. Because at the end of September, Shanxi signed a medium- and long-term coal supply contract for the fourth quarter with 14 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities including Hebei, Shandong, and Jiangsu to ensure energy supply.
According to relevant requirements, the coal enterprises of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanxi will guarantee supply to 5 provinces and cities including Tianjin, Fujian, Hebei, Guangdong, and Liaoning; Jinneng Holding Group will connect with 6 provinces and regions including Guangxi, Jiangsu, Jilin, Anhui, Shanghai and Zhejiang. City; Shanxi Coking Coal Group undertakes the task of guaranteeing supply in Henan Province; Huayang New Material Technology Group undertakes the task of guaranteeing supply in Hainan Province; Lu’an Chemical Group undertakes the task of guaranteeing supply in Shandong Province, and the remaining supply guarantee tasks are undertaken by coal enterprises in Shanxi Province.
At the signing meeting, the Shanxi Energy Administration required companies that undertake the task of guaranteeing supply to “implement the contracted amount of supply guaranteeing tasks without compromising, and the contract signing rate should reach 100%.” At the same time, the supply and demand parties should break down the medium and long-term contracts into months.
Mei Jun, chief engineer of Xinyan Coal Mine of Dongyi Group Coal Gasification Company in Luliang City, Shanxi Province, told the Chinese Communist Party’s official media Chinanews.com that continuous rainfall will have a direct impact on coal production and transportation in Shanxi, and the current pressure to ensure supply is greater. @
Editor in charge: Shao Yi#
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