According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC), China's net import(净出口) of coal hit 103.43 million tons in 2009. Last year, China exported 22.40 million tons of coal, down 50.7 percent year on year, while its coal import surged 211.9 percent to 125.83 million tons.
China was always a coal net exporter before 2009. "Due to the global financial crisis, falling demand for coal on the international market dragged coal prices down. As prices offered by domestic（国内的） coal mines were higher than the global market, China's power generation companies preferred to buy more coal from the world market," analyzed Li Ting, an expert from the Distribution Production Promotion Center (DPPC).
Li Xiangyang, general manager of the fuel department under China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd., noted that if global coal prices remain appropriate（适当的，恰当的）, power generation enterprises may buy more from the overseas market. Currently, the to-factory price of imported coal is around 100 yuan per ton lower than domestic coal price.
The fact that net coal import exceeded 100 million tons was generally good news, said an official with the National Bureau of Energy. "But the huge increase in 2009 was extraordinary," he added.(本文由在线英语听力室资料编辑) |