CCTD Weekly Review - Ports (07/14-07/20)
Time:2025-07-22 10:36:31 Source:CCTD
Edited and Updated by Ethan Ma
July 22, 2025
Overall: Sentiment Remains Positive, Coal Prices Continue to Rise
Port-side Thermal Coal:
This week, port coal prices continued to rise. Power plants maintained moderate procurement activity, mainly fulfilling long-term contracts, with limited spot restocking. However, due to rainfall, production recovery in Ordos fell short of expectations, and shipments from ports remained low. The supply contraction fueled bullish sentiment among port traders, who held back stock and continued to raise their offer prices.
As of July 18, the “CCTD-Spot Price” for 5500K, 5000K, and 4500K—stood at RMB 639, 575, and 509 per ton respectively, up RMB 12, 13, and 13 per ton week-on-week.
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Terminal Demand:
On July 16, 2025, coal consumption of CCTD monitored end users in eight coastal provinces reached 2.42 million tons, up 210,000 tons WoW (9.7%), 710,000 tons MoM (41.2%), and 180,000 tons YoY (7.8%).
Inventory stood at 35.03 million tons, down 150,000 tons WoW, up 300,000 tons MoM, and down 1.51 million tons YoY.
Weather:
In recent days, eastern Jiangnan and North China have experienced relatively heavy rainfall, while sustained high temperatures persisted across central and eastern regions.
Looking ahead, starting July 19, there will be heavy rainfall across central and eastern Northwest China, North China, southern Northeast China, the Huang-Huai region, Jianghan, Jiangnan, South China, and the eastern parts of Southwest China. From July 21 onward, high temperatures are expected to ease significantly in regions such as Huang-Huai and Guanzhong in Shaanxi Province.
Freight Rates:
Coastal coal freight rates remained stable this week. With high temperatures peaking across China, coastal power plants' daily coal consumption has also reached its highest level. However, since most plants maintain sufficient inventory and show limited acceptance of high-priced coal, they primarily rely on long-term contracts. Their cautious attitude toward spot market coal has weakened overall vessel chartering demand, resulting in a relatively loose ship-to-cargo supply balance.
As of July 17, the China Coastal Bulk (Coal) Freight Index stood at 733.2 points, up 16.6 points from the previous week (July 10). Specifically, freight rates were:
Qinhuangdao to Guangzhou (50,000–60,000 DWT): RMB 42.2/ton, up RMB 1/ton;
Qinhuangdao to Shanghai (40,000–50,000 DWT): RMB 28.8/ton, up RMB 0.7/ton.
Inventory:
Inventories at northern ports continued to decline. Due to ongoing logistics cost inversions and routine “window” maintenance on the Daqin railway line, port shipments remained at moderate levels. Meanwhile, downstream inventory remains high. As domestic coal prices keep rising, terminal acceptance has weakened, leading to a decline in enthusiasm for northbound shipments. As a result, port in-and-out volumes have fluctuated slightly, and inventories experienced minor ups and downs.
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