Coal consumption in China's major power plants has fallen in July, with regions other than the south all using less coal in the last two weeks.

Spot thermal coal prices in China have stagnated since early June, as supply remains abundant and power plants hold sufficient coal stocks during the summer, traditionally marked with stringent power and coal supplies.

Traders and analysts said the market this summer had been calm and trade lacklustre, as uncertainties over the economic growth in the second half weighed on sentiment.

"While we remain bullish on the thermal coal market in the longer term, over the next quarter we see demand conditions deteriorating sufficiently to threaten a modest correction in pricing," Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients last week.

The daily average coal burned at China's power plants stood at 3.39m tonnes in the first week of July, but fell 8% to 3.14m tonnes from July 8-20, calculations based on industry data showed.

Daily coal consumption fell 10% in northern China, 12% in the central region and 16% in the northwest, the data showed.

In June, China's power consumption grew at its slowest pace in a non-holiday month since October 2009, partly because of a low base in June 2009.

However, economists are watching China's power closely for any sign of a wider industrial slowdown.