Steps taken by Beijing to depress coal prices are casting a shadow on China’s drive to become a global price-setting hub for commodities. The Chinese government has been trying to reduce the price of coal, which accounts for about half its energy needs, and is also looking at ways to curb demand in an effort to keep inflation under control. 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 could 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.
Steps taken by Beijing 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 boost its influence in pricing commodities from iron ore to oil by promoting Chinese futures contracts as benchmarks. 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 could 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.