China builds coal stockpile bases

CHINA, the world’s largest coal producer and consumer, plans to build stockpiles of the fuel in the eastern province of Shandong to ensure supplies and help stabilise prices, the nation’s top economic planner says.

The province would complete the construction of four to six coal stockpile bases within the next three to five years, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

The bases would each have a capacity to store more than 20 million tonnes of coal.

Shandong’s annual coal shortage may rise to more than 190 million tonnes next year, according to the commission.

Coal prices at China’s Qinhuangdao port, a domestic benchmark, soared to a record in July last year and since then have almost halved as the global recession reduced energy demand.

The Australian