China's coal resources a centered on the Central Western provinces and until infrastructure development started to reach these areas in 2012,transport for it was the issue.
As with most things Chinese,the means justify the actions,i.e.buying the cheapest coal you can to get yourself in a situation where,you no-longer need it and can use your own.
Hence the banning of importation of Low calorific coal,mainly from Indonesia,not just to ease pollution but to focus supply domestically on now accessable resources.
Just as with Iron Ore,lower grade supplies with contaminants no other buyer would necessarily want,are acceptable while you need the steel for growth and internal consumption.As this Domestic demand has been met for the moment and they are exporting about 8MT a month,you could start worrying,if you were such a supplier.
As the grades go up the same mills will produce-More Steel for the same amount of coal and infrastructure.
The other side of the coin is current prices have knocked 79 of 249 domestic producers out of the supply chain,i believe.
The flip side to that is guess where China's large IO resources are?Look at a RIO or FMG presentation and there is a potential re-balancing due in China,if they are economic to access.
Maybe the mine it quickly while we can attitude of the big players has a longer Horizon outlook,keeping Chinese IO development as a low priority to other resources.
FMG, AGO and MGX have essentially only been filling the gap left by the exit of low grade 53%FE Indian ore.
The infrastructure for upgrading this low grade still exists in China,but as we keep hearing wages there are rising,rather than falling along with costs.
So at some point lower grade ore,just won't cut it in China's market place.
That leaves India,who has now started importing Australian ore,not so much because they don't have it locally,but the infrastructure,is well Indian and overloaded and there is NO EXCESS CAPACITY to ship it around.
In fact its cheaper to boat it in from Australia than to try and move it by train from one province to another for coastal mills.
As always DYOR + DYODD Not everyone who can afford it has a car,or a road to put it on in China -YET
