By Winnie Zhu
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Coal prices at China’s Qinhuangdao port, a benchmark in the world’s biggest producer of the fuel, fell 1.3 percent last week because of lower demand.
The price of coal with an energy value of 5,500 kilocalories a kilogram dropped to between 565 yuan ($83) and 575 yuan as of Feb. 16 compared with 570 yuan to 585 yuan on Feb. 9, according to weekly data published by the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association.
The price of the fuel used in power stations declined for a third week after the end of peak winter consumption, said Wang Shuai, chief coal analyst at Orient Securities Ltd. in Shanghai. The Chinese benchmark coal price has tumbled more than 40 percent from a record 995 yuan a ton reached in July as an economic slowdown curbed demand.
“Chinese coal prices will keep falling and may bottom out in May and June when summer arrives,” Wang said by telephone.
Coal stockpiles at the northern Chinese port of Qinhuangdao have increased 20 percent to 7.38 million tons as of Feb. 14, according to Wang.
The Chinese economy, the world’s third largest, expanded at the slowest pace in seven years in the fourth quarter of 2008. Exports fell by the most in almost 13 years, customs data showed Feb. 11.
To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at Wzhu4@bloomberg.net.
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