China's utilities may relax spot steam-coal buying till late May

After their flurry of spot buying recently, Chinese coastal power utilities may retreat to the coal-market sidelines until later this month, when they are expected to launch a final round of restocking ahead of the typical June-August summer peak demand season, sources said.

China's coal-fired power producers in East and South China kicked off pre-summer fuel restocking in late April – about half a month earlier than in previous years – and extended strong procurements into early May. This was due to a convergence of earlier-than-expected arrivals of heatwaves, low inventory levels,