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Disagreements over coal prices between
coal producers and power generators are still going on, and more
than 80 percent of China's power-coal contracts have not yet been
secured for this year.
So far, power producers in China have
been able to secure less than 20 percent of this year's coal
contracts, said Yang Linjun, general engineer with Zhongneng Power
Industry Fuel Co, which helps arrange coal supplies for the nation's
top five electricity producers such as Huaneng and Datang.
"These finished contracts, totalling
110 million tons of coal, were inked at the same price as in the
fourth quarter of last year," Yang yesterday told China
Daily.
The unparalleled pricing mechanisms of
the market-based coal and government-controlled electricity are at
the source of coal price disputes between the coal power sectors.
At the annual coal-ordering conference
hosted to secure coal supplies for electricity generators at the
beginning of last month, only 6 percent of the coal supply contracts
required by the country's power generators were finalized, said Wang
Yonggan, secretary-general of the industry association of China's
electricity producers.
Almost two months later, the country's
top five power producers still haven't reached agreements with the
giant coal firms like Shenhua and China Coal for the bulk of their
coal supplies, said Yang.
"Most of the 20-per-cent contracts were
signed between the small power generators and the small coal
producers in the local areas," Yang said yesterday.
Most coal producers are demanding at
least 20 yuan (US$2.5) more for a ton of coal contracted to power
firms, Yang said.
In order to settle the dispute between
coal and power, three ministerial-level government bodies including
the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of
Communications and Ministry of Railways, earlier this month
announced power-coal contracts must be finished by the end of this
month. | 
