China coal giant Shenhua limits supply to traders to cool prices

Hong Kong

SHENHUA Group Corp, China's biggest coal producer, is seeking to limit sales of the fuel to end-users and choke off supplies to traders amid government pressure on the nation's major miners to cool surging prices.

The Beijing-based company has changed its thermal coal sales policy to limit how much trading companies can buy and allow some sales to be based off spot prices rather than contracted prices, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Shenhua stopped selling the fuel to buyers who don't have annual, long-term contracts from Nov 15, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn't public.