Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 44 2022

AsiaElec POLICY AsiaElec

COVID policies

hurting Chinese

power cut efforts

CHINA WITH winter starting to close in across north- been shut: a single COVID case at one mine had
ern China, well intentioned efforts by local and led to all workers in coal production facilities
national authorities to avoid the widespread being told to stay home, one government report
power cuts seen across the country last year said.
could now be scuppered by never ending anti- Further closures are being reported else-
COVID policies. where, but of more immediate concern is a pos-
In its push to eradicate COVID nationwide, sible long-term closure of the Daqin Railway.
China’s central government in Beijing has, for As one of the leading coal railway systems in
much of 2022, employed measures increasingly China, when operating at full capacity, the Daqin
seen as over-zealous and counter-productive line carries around 1.3mn tonnes of coal each
to the benefit of the national economy in a bid day from a number of northern China mining
to become the first COVID-free nation in the areas to the port at Qinhuangdao, east of Beijing.
world. That number is now down to close to 200,000
These measures have already seen imports of tonnes, according to sources, only on good days
other forms of fuel, primarily oil, plummet, and reaching 300,000.
are now starting to affect efforts to prepare for In knock-on effect this has seen port inven-
the approaching winter across the north of the tory numbers drop by as much as 3% in recent
country. months, according to China’s Coal Transporta-
Transportation limits are now being imposed tion and Distribution agency.
across large areas with confirmed COVID cases Access by truckers to mines is also being
to counter the spread, leading to the realisation restricted, with COVID restrictions meaning
that in many areas efforts to stockpile coal in that drivers are currently prevented from leav-
recent months will have been in vain should it ing their trucks upon arrival at coal storage sites,
not be able to move it to sectors with the greatest even after driving hundreds of kilometres across
need. China.
Mining operations too are also under threat Lower production and shipment capabilities
from China’s COVID policies. across China have, for the time being, been offset
As the world’s leading consumer of coal, Bei- by reductions in purchases.
jing is keenly aware of the problems caused dur- Fewer vessels in port waiting to load coal has
ing power cuts last winter. But with the nation’s helped too, with around 80 coal carriers a day
three main areas of coal production also starting now leaving ports in the north of the country;
to report COVID cases by the hundred again, a number almost 25% down compared to the
lockdowns mean that pit operations and ship- same time last year.
ping infrastructure is starting to back up. For now, however, the middle of November
And for now, there is no indication from local is a period circled on many calendars across
authorities acting on central government orders, the country as the time demand is expected to
as to when shipments may be allowed to resume. dramatically increase as hundreds of millions of
Sources indicate that at least two mines near Chinese start turning on the heating at home and
the city of Wuhai in the Inner Mongolian region in the workplace.
ceased operations in mid-October, although According to one Beijing-based trader, “The
government officials refuse to acknowledge this. market is in a delicate balance. It depends on
At mines in Zhungeer in China’s north-east, which one of the factors will come first to break
meanwhile, facilities that produce over a quar- the balance – the end of COVID outbreaks or the
ter of all the coal mined in Inner Mongolia have pick-up in demand.”™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 44 01•November•2022