BEIJING, May 24: China, the world’s top coal producer and consumer, may turn into a net coal importer this year due to shipping bottlenecks, the head of the China Coal Transport and Sales Association said on Saturday.

“Because of shipping bottlenecks, power plants in southeast coastal regions need to import more coal, while coal exports will be limited by policy,” Yang Xianfeng, general secretary of the association, told a conference.

In 2007, China was a small net exporter, with exports of 53.17 million tons slightly exceeding imports of 51.02 million tons, despite being a net importer for the first time in history during the first half of the year.

Yang would not give his forecast for 2008 imports.

Beijing plans 2008 coal export quotas of 53 million tons.

So far, it has issued only the first batch of 31.8 million tons, or 60 per cent of the total.

With domestic coal prices at record highs, in part due to a rebound in exports, there has been speculation Beijing might delay handing out the second batch of the quotas. Yang did not comment on the second batch.

He said Chinese coal demand would grow by 6-8 per cent to 2.74-2.82 billion tonnes this year, while its production capacity would stand at 2.87 billion tons.

Wang Xianzheng, head of China Coal Industry Association said earlier the Chinese coal market was in balance, despite some regional tightness that has led to closures of power plants.

His remark came after a comment by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Friday coal shortages had forced 39 Chinese power plants with 6.37 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to halt generation, a rise of about a third from earlier in the week.—Reuters