MYSTEEL: Thermal coal inventories test China's price rebound

China's thermal coal market has staged a modest recovery since late last week, supported by tighter domestic supply, improving sentiment and speculative buying by traders. Yet the rally is facing a key test as utilities remain comfortably stocked and continue to show little interest in the spot market, raising questions over how long the rebound can be sustained.

Mysteel's weekly survey covering July 3-9 showed the 493 power plants monitored nationwide held 100.95 million tonnes of coal inventories, the highest level since mid-February. Daily coal consumption edged down 0.4% from the previous week to 4.06 million tonnes, leaving sufficient inventories for 24.9 days of use, compared with