China utilities plan new coal import price index to tame volatility

BEIJING: Three major Chinese utilities are preparing to launch their own coal price index for imports, an official at China Huaneng Group said on Tuesday, the latest sign that power companies are trying to tame price volatility for their key raw material.

Huaneng is working on the plan with China Datang Corp and Zhejiang Energy, said Xu Zanfei, director of planning for Huaneng's fuel department, in a presentation at a coal conference.

The launch will be "soon", he said.