WEEKLY: China's thermal coal market stabilizes as pre-holiday demand fades

China's thermal coal market fluctuated in a narrow range over the past week (February 2-6), with prices broadly stable amid a balance where supply and demand both reduced ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday starting from February 15.

In major coal-producing regions, the number of mines suspending operations continued to increase, tightening spot supply. However, with most end-users having largely completed pre-holiday restocking, procurement activity weakened in parallel. Sources reported that spot trading volumes remained limited, which was evident in declining truck arrivals for coal loading at