*China reduces coal export quotas for the year* SHANGHAI: China has cut its coal export quotas for the year, beginning this month, by 24 percent, to 53 million tons, as the government seeks to channel production to its own economy.
"The quotas will be officially handed out next week," said a person with direct knowledge of the situation, who did not want to be named before an official announcement was made. The quotas, usually issued no later than February, were delayed this year, which created uncertainty in the market after the 2007 allotments expired Feb. 29. The cut in the export quota did not come as a surprise. Analysts said expectations of lower Chinese coal exports this year were raising global coal prices, which surged to a record level in the spot market in February and are expected to remain high. China, the world's largest coal producer and consumer, exported 53.17million tons of coal in 2007, well below the quota and down 16 percent from the previous year, according to customs figures. Beijing had already told port authorities to stop loading coal for export for February and at least two weeks of March in response to severe coal and power shortages brought in part by heavy snow and ice storms in central and southern China. China's coal exports in February dropped 48 percent from January, to three million tons, customs data show. Analysts said they expected China to become a net coal importer in 2008 and the cut in the quota would help increase international coal prices. "It will give Australian miners more bargaining power in their annual contract negotiations with Japanese utilities," said Martin Wang, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities. International spot coal prices hit a record of $150 a ton in early February, because of a supply crunch in Australia, China and South Africa, but had eased to $129.58 a ton by last Friday. Provincial officials in Shanxi, China's leading coal-producing province, said China would soon resume contracted coal exports. Source: Reuters 12 March 208
