Monday, April 27, 2009

Yanzhou Coal Lowers Sales Target

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co lowered its 2009 sales target to 6.7 percent below its 2008 sales volume after reporting a first quarter profit fallof 48.5 percent, hurt by falling demand and prices.

The Chinese coal producer said late on Sunday it planned to sell 35.05 million tonnes of coal in 2009, compared with 37.56 million tonnes in 2008. Coal for export is estimated to be at 0.5 million tonnes for the year, down from 1.8 tonnes in 2008.

However, the company said government measures to stimulate economic growth would lift domestic demand for coal.

Yanzhou Coal said its first quarter net profit fell 48.5 percent year-on-year to 831 million yuan ($121.8 million) in accordance with Chinese accounting standards as demand and coal prices fell.

Sales volume fell 11.9 percent year-on-year during the quarter to 7.92 million tonnes, and the average coal price fell 15.1 percent to 492.66 yuan per tonne, it said.

"In view of the challenges ahead, we will speed up the construction of current projects and keep looking for new investment opportunities in both domestic and overseas markets ... so as to expand our coal mine assets and increase our sustainable development capability," chairman Wang Xin said in the statement.

The Chinese coal producer said its net income attributable to equity holders doubled to 6.49 billion yuan for 2008, from 3.23 billion yuan a year ago, as coal prices jumped during the year before a significant drop in the fourth quarter.

Source: Reuters

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