Wednesday, August 21, 2013

China coal: a grimy outlook

China coal: a grimy outlook - FT (Lex) | Coal miners and their shareholders love it when the weather gets hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement. China's recent heatwave is one reason shares of its biggest coal miners have jumped a fifth even as coal prices have slid by nearly a tenth. But there is little reason to think the gains are much more than a mirage. ...Yanzhou Coal this week typified the industry's issues when it said it had sold 7 per cent more coal in the first half but that revenues had fallen a tenth. It also conceded, according to an analyst translation, that it can no longer rely on more coal producing greater profits.