![\"UBS](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c6cca3fbabb139aa3dd1b13759296ad1.jpeg\")
UBS pins China coal price surge on Shanxi mine disaster and safety crackdown Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n UBS pins China coal price surge on Shanxi mine disaster and safety crackdown Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n
UBS has linked a sharp rise in Chinese coal prices to a fatal mine disaster and the safety crackdown that followed.<\/p>\n
Prices of metallurgical coal, the coking coal used to make steel, are up about 33% since March, while thermal coal, burned for power, has risen around 15%.<\/p>\n
The trigger was a gas explosion at the Liushenyu mine in Qinyuan, in the northern province of Shanxi, on 22 May, which killed 82 workers.<\/p>\n
The mine itself is small, but UBS said the policy response had been significant.<\/p>\n
All 25 mines in Qinyuan were suspended, and a wider three-month safety campaign across Shanxi halted a further 137.<\/p>\n
By 15 June, 148 mines had been suspended since late May, of which 97 had restarted and 51 remained closed, according to UBS.<\/p>\n
Even those reopening are running 20% to 30% below earlier levels, the bank said, as many had previously operated beyond capacity.<\/p>\n
UBS estimates the disruption will cut China’s coking coal output by about 3% this year, or roughly 15 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
That would echo the impact of a similar accident in late 2023.<\/p>\n
Tight supply has collided with seasonal demand, feeding through to a seventh round of price rises from coke producers this week.<\/p>\n
Domestic coking coal prices have climbed from around 1,500 yuan a tonne in March to about 2,000 yuan now.<\/p>\n
The bank expects further gains to be harder to come by, with steel profitability depressed and domestic supply set to recover.<\/p>\n
Strong imports are also cushioning the market, with met-coal purchases up 18% so far this year.<\/p>\n
Much of that has come overland from Mongolia, where shipments have jumped 61%, though its border ports are now running at capacity.<\/p>\n
Seaborne suppliers in Russia and Australia have so far responded only modestly, UBS said.<\/p>\n
Thermal coal has been more balanced, with Beijing prioritising supply to guarantee energy security through the peak summer.<\/p>\n
Producers have been told to maximise output, leaving the market fundamentally oversupplied even as prices firm.<\/p>\n
UBS said higher gas prices tied to the Middle East conflict, Indonesian supply worries and forecasts of a hot summer had supported thermal prices.<\/p>\n
It expects them to hold up in the near term before easing once summer restocking fades.<\/p>\n
UBS is watching the pace of restarts into July and August as a guide to when supply will normalise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UBS pins China coal price surge on Shanxi mine disaster and safety crackdown Proactive uses images sourced from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[129],"tags":[26352,8931,40380,43576,43574,43575,43577,40381,223],"class_list":["post-85421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ubs","tag-gas-prices","tag-coal-prices","tag-coking-coal","tag-coking-coal-prices","tag-metallurgical-coal","tag-safety-campaign","tag-shanxi","tag-thermal-coal","tag-ubs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116760733735681152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}