Steps taken by China to depress coal prices are casting a shadow on China ’s drive to become a global price - setting hub for commodities . The country has been trying to expand its influence in pricing commodities from iron ore to oil by using Chinese futures contracts as leverage . However , a wave of moves to cool coal prices , which rose on the back of government measures to tackle pollution and curb mining , showed Beijing to be reluctant to trade openly . “If NDRC can do this to the coal industry, it can deploy the same strategy with other commodities,” said Lin Boqiang, director at the energy institute at Xiamen University. " If NDRC can do this to the coal industry , it can deploy the same strategy with other commodities , " said Lin Boqiang , director at Xiamen University 's energy institute .
Steps taken by China to depress coal prices are casting a shadow on China ’s drive to become a global price - setting hub for commodities . The country has been trying to expand its influence in pricing commodities from iron ore to oil by using Chinese futures contracts as leverage . However , a wave of moves to cool coal prices , which rose on the back of government measures to tackle pollution and curb mining , showed Beijing to be reluctant to trade openly . " If NDRC can do this to the coal industry , it can deploy the same strategy with other commodities , " said Lin Boqiang , director at Xiamen University 's energy institute .