China import controls spread, but market fears worst is yet to come

摘要

Import controls continued to spread across Chinese ports in early August as efforts to keep volumes flat on the year escalated. Almost all coal handling ports in China are now operating some form of control on imports, but many in the market fear the worst is yet to come. The current measures – largely the banning of discharge by nonlocal end users – are unlikely to be enough to keep China from breaching its 281 mt annual threshold, many believe, especially after July volumes hit their second highest since the start of 2014. “We are still worried about the situation,” one Chinese enduser said.