AlwaysFree: China’s Coal Prices Seen Dropping As Domestic Output Hits Multi-Year High

China’s coal prices are expected to drop after domestic output hit a multi-year high last week. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said local miners produced an average of 11.66 million tons/day of coal during November 1-5, rising by 1.2 million tons from end-September. The NDRC also said that coal inventories at power plants surpassed 117 million tons as of Saturday, while portside stocks rose by almost 1.5 million tons from a month ago to 5.39 million tons. The thermal coal futures contract on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange dropped 3% to CNY920 ($143.8) per ton as of 0215 GMT yesterday. The contract has plunged 52% since a peak of CNY1,908 on October 19.