DAILY: Tight Indo. supply, high freights cap China's thermal coal buying

China's imported thermal coal market has been largely frozen this week, as tight Indonesian supply and elevated freight rates pushed import costs well above domestic levels, forcing many Chinese power utilities to increasingly turn to domestic coal instead.

Market participants note that Indonesian coal availability for exports has shrunk noticeably, partly due to low inventories of the fossil fuel at Indonesian power plants, which have prompted coal miners to prioritize domestic supply. In late February, an official at the Indonesian Private Power Producers Association warned that most coal-fired