Heilongjiang Longmay Group, a leading coal mining company in Heilongjiang, northeast of China, said that they will stop to transport thermal coal to the power plants under the current tight supply.

After the halt, four power plants in Heilongjiang could only obtain the coal from Longmay at a price 461 yuan/t (for coal with the heating value of 5,000 Kcal/kg), which price was quoted higher about 169 yuan/t from the long-term contract price.

Currently, most of the coalmines in Heilongjiang were still suspended production, which led to the tight supply-and-demand in the local market.

Coal stocks in power plants also posted a trifling sum on Jun 29, which could only be consumed for 6 days.

Earlier, to break the deadlock between the power generators and coal miners on the annual coal ordering event, Heilongjiang government once required the coalmines first transported the coal to power plants with the doubled quantity. The advance price for power plants was temporary fixed higher 50 yuan/t from the level in last year. After the contracts finally officially signed, power plants should supplement the payment or coal miners should return the overpayment.

However, with the tight market, the four power plants in Heilongjiang will face to close down or slash power output in the near future.

On the contrary, coal production in other provinces of China is accelerating to resume coal production, which even causes the glut in the market.