1Portside thermal rangebound; import bids tick up

Northern ports traded in a narrow range on Sep 28, the first session after the Mid-Autumn Festival, as buyers and sellers waited on the sidelines with the National Day holiday near and pre-holiday restocking largely done. Trading was thin and few deals changed hands. Qinhuangdao port held 6.25 Mt of coal, up 2.46% WoW, while seaborne Indonesian 3,800 Kcal/kg NAR was indicated at $76/t FOB, flat DoD, and import tenders edged higher but utility enquiries stayed scarce, leaving prices rangebound.

2Mine-mouth thermal extends losses post holiday

Thermal coal prices across key producing regions kept falling on Sep 28, with 10-30 yuan/t cuts observed, as policy-driven expectations of faster mine restarts and slower downstream restocking weighed on sentiment. Of 117 mines Sxcoal surveyed, 9 raised prices by an average of 38.56 yuan/t, 19 cut by 24.37 yuan/t and 89 held. Ordos 5,500 Kcal/kg NAR was 807 yuan/t mine-mouth, down 15 yuan/t DoD, while Yulin 5,800 Kcal/kg NAR eased to 878 yuan/t, down 19 yuan/t DoD.

3Coking coal soft; met coke steady but cut looms

China's coking coal stayed under pressure as large-scale restocking failed to materialize before the holiday and some traders undersold, with key grades down 200-300 yuan/t from their monthly highs. Online auctions listed 218,000 t with a 47% failure rate, down 32 percentage points from last Thursday, and an average premium of 76 yuan/t. The Shanxi low-sulfur CCI stood at 2,374 yuan/t, down 93 yuan/t from Sep 24. Met coke held steady yet a post-holiday price cut looms as feed coal eases.

4Shanxi mine halts ease to 49; restarts slow

Some Shanxi mines idled for safety inspections passed checks and resumed around the holiday, and a few in Qinyuan, Changzhi, won approval to restart soon, bringing the province's halted mines down to 49. But many mines remain shut and a large share still runs at low rates after the deadly Qinyuan gas accident, keeping supply tight.

5Shanxi, Ningxia pledge stable output over holidays

Shanxi held a provincial meeting on safe, stable coal output and supply, with Changzhi vowing to push restarts while keeping safety risks in check. Ningxia told mines to maintain output and not cut production over the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, tapping existing capacity to add supply. Policy steers restarts and supply security in tandem.

6Jan-Aug coal mining profits +51.6%; Ordos output up

Profits in China's coal mining and washing sector surged 51.6% YoY in Jan-Aug 2026, extending a strong run as the broader industrial profit rose 15.7%. Ordos in Inner Mongolia saw raw coal output of 610 Mt in Jan-Aug, up 6.1% YoY, with coke at 7.24 Mt (+2.3%) and power generation of 147.02 TWh (+8%).

7China, US agree coal tariff cuts; 10 Mt/yr US coal

China and the US agreed to fold Chinese tariffs on American coal imports into a "$30 billion-for-$30 billion" reciprocal tariff-cut framework, the commerce ministry said. A White House fact sheet confirmed China will import at least 10 Mt of US coal in both 2027 and 2028, more than 20 Mt over two years, potentially reviving a trade flow that faded in the tariff dispute.

8Mine safety watchdog flags 18,000-plus hazards

China's National Mine Safety Administration said it has investigated and handled more than 18,000 major accident hazards at mines this year, up 92% from a year earlier, as it stepped up regulations and issued the coal mine safety permit rules plus five mandatory national standards.

9China unveils 15th FYP for new battery industry

MIIT and six other departments jointly issued a plan to boost the high-quality development of the new battery industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan, covering technology, industrial layout and recycling to underpin energy-storage and new-energy systems.

10Explosion at Russia's Elga coking coal deposit

An explosion and fire during welding at a backup pumping station serving Russia's Elga coking coal deposit in Yakutia killed four and injured two on Sep 26, prosecutors said. Elga is Russia's largest coking-coal deposit, and the incident may disrupt its output and rail shipments.

11Europe turns to coal as gas hits 3-year high

European utilities are ramping up coal-fired generation as the benchmark gas price broke 80 euros/MWh, a three-year high, after Iran-US tensions disrupted LNG flows via the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts expect coal-based electricity output to climb 25% over the coming six months, compensating for lost gas generation.

12India runs captive plants flat out; mulls coal blend

India ordered 112 captive coal-fired plants to run at full capacity from Oct 1 through year-end amid demand growth, and is considering mandatory imported-coal blending of up to 5% at power plants, the first such move since 2024, to ease a supply crunch that has pushed spot power prices to a 2022 high. Coal is still seen supplying about half of power by FY2035-36.

13Global crude steel -1.2%; China mills' stocks +3.4%

World crude steel output across 70 countries fell 1.2% YoY to 144 Mt in August, with China at 74.6 Mt (-3.7%) and Vietnam up 36.4%. Global pig iron output in Jan-Aug was 913 Mt (-2.2%), China 563 Mt (-3.1%). At China's key mills, mid-Sep steel inventories rose 3.4% from the prior ten days to 17.08 Mt, while crude steel daily output edged down 0.1% to 1.922 Mt.

14Weak hydro supports coal as inflows drop

China's hydropower growth slowed in August on weaker water inflows, with Three Gorges outflows well below a year earlier and southwestern output curbed. Coal-fired baseload and peaking demand are better supported into the winter restocking season, though falling burn and building stocks limit procurement strength near term.

15Power grid, UHV and nuclear build-out accelerate

Inner Mongolia commissioned its first 500 kV substation of 2026, while Hubei began the No. 3 main-transformer expansion at the 1,000 kV Jingmen UHV station, the province's first UHV expansion under the 15th FYP, adding 3,000 MVA and due in Oct 2027. Guangxi's Bailong nuclear unit 2 started construction, moving the project to dual-unit build.