End of Coal, page-84

Coal December importsdecreased 55% yoy due to import restriction: Coal imports decreased to 10mnt in December,down 55% YoY, and lower than the historical range of 19-29mn tons sincemid-2016, due to China’s seaborne coal import restriction introduced in mid Nov2018. Despite the collapse in coal imports in December, coal prices fell by~10% and IPP inventory remains high. This is a strong indication that domesticcoal has been running in an oversupply environment in the past month. Nearterm, cancellation of the import restriction policy since 1^stJanuary and seasonal demand slowdown into the Chinese New Year may furtherpressure coal prices, although increased safety inspections after the tragicmining accident in Shaanxi may be a wild card.