The double variation of coal rescue and anti-corruption

According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, in recent days, the procuratorial agency has investigated the crimes of suspected bribery by the Director of the Nuclear Power Department of the National Energy Administration Hao Weiping and the Deputy Director of the Coal Department Wei Pengyuan in accordance with the law and adopted mandatory measures. Investigation of the case is in progress.

Earlier, in 2013, Liu Tienan, former director of the National Energy Administration, Liu Zhijun, former minister of the Ministry of Railways, Wu Yulu, former chairman of the Yimei Coal Group, and Meng Zhongze, former chairman of the Zheng Coal Group, were all investigated. From local to central to state-owned enterprises, the energy system is undergoing a large-scale anti-corruption and reconstruction operation.

An investment industry executive said that after learning that Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the National Energy Administration’s Coal Department, was arrested, he judged that a storm intended to regulate various rules and unspoken rules of the industry was about to start, related products and listings involved. The company will face a reorganization.

At the same time, in the coal industry, which has been struggling for two and a half years in the winter, although there are many measures to rescue the local governments, the policies of overcapacity, environmental protection and energy saving, and the impact of imported coal have made these policies of bailouts. Little help.

In particular, it is worth noting that Shanxi is launching 17 new policies for the rescue of the market. The main idea is to speed up the operation of coal marketization. Some people in Shanxi energy industry pointed out that “there will be involved in the management and removal of supervision and miscellaneous fees and cut off corruption as much as possible. Interest chain."

According to Li Ting, a coal circulation expert and chief consultant of Ruineng Consulting, the total coal production capacity in production and under construction (excluding those still under planning) has exceeded 5.5 billion tons. “Of course, these production capacities cannot be suddenly released. Some of the capacity under construction will become bad." In contrast, domestic coal production in 2013 was only 3.7 billion tons.

Under the influence of multiple factors, in the industry sector classification on May 22, the coal sector led the decline in the two cities, falling by 1.46%. Of the 41 related concept stocks, 37 fell. Yunmei Energy led the coal sector with a decline of 5.62%.

Coal rescues the market and cuts down the chain of corruption interest In the most popular years of the coal market, all aspects of the coal production, distribution and transportation chain share the benefits brought by coal.

As a veteran in the coal industry, who has been playing for nearly 30 years, Yang Bang, a coal trader, has moved to the Hunan Nansi Wood Market and left the coal market for a year and a half. “From project approval, approval, project construction, to transportation, to power plants, there is the possibility of rent-seeking at every stage.” On May 22, Yang Bang told reporters of the 21st Century Business Herald that they were tired from the industry.

In the most booming years of the coal market, all aspects of the coal production, distribution, and sales chain share the benefits of coal.

An energy source in Shanxi Province admitted that as a pillar industry in Shanxi, coal used to surge from the 2001-2011 golden decade, with the rapid growth of the domestic economy and the soaring demand and soaring prices. From its exploration, approval, mining, and security inspections as a starting point, in its chain of production, transportation and sales, local governments at various levels, transportation departments, and power plants at coal production sites, “each link has an opportunity for corruption”.

According to media reports, in 2008, the Office of the Leading Group for the Special Campaign for Anti-Corruption in Coal Charging in Shanxi Province was established. In two years, the amount of the payment was RMB 304.414 billion, and 2,353 officials were investigated and punished. Among them, 7 were officials at the bureau level. Of these seven people, Wang Yanfeng, former deputy mayor of Datong City, and Shen Gongyuan, former director of Datong City Public Security Bureau, were both involved in the same case and were led by the leading group as a typical major case.

Henan Province showed that from May 2011 to April 2012, the province had 286 corruption cases involving coal handling, 370 party and government disciplines (76 of which were above the departmental level), and transferred to 161 judicial organs.

The Shanxi energy source told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that Shanxi is launching 17 new policies for the rescue of the city, “which will cut the chain of corruption interests as much as possible.”

“Like our traders, we can start with the initial transportation link, and this is the most important thing for railway transportation.” Yang Bang said that the railway freight is more than half of the cost of the road, so please pay fares, point charges, and payment fees. A large number of costs exist in the rail transport sector. "If there is a difference between seasons, regions and capacity, it may be 10 to 150 yuan/ton."

Taking the fare as an example, the coal company must, in principle, sign a coal purchase and sale contract with a coal buyer such as a power plant, and then sign a coal transportation contract with the former Ministry of Railways to obtain a railway transportation plan, and the right to examine and approve the wagon will become corrupt. hotbed. According to statistics, Liu Zhijun’s case involved 13 high-ranking officials. Except for Liu Zhijun, he had 8 people in important positions in the Ministry of Railways Transportation Bureau, Hohhot Railway Bureau, and Taiyuan Railway Bureau, and most of the bribery crimes were related to the railway freight business. The prosecution agency found that from 2004 to the time of the incident, Ding Shumiao's company, through Liu Zhijun and others, arranged for reselling the coal transportation plan and illegally profited 443 million yuan.

“There is more fines for miscellaneous fees incurred during road transport.” A Guangzhou-based coal dealer said that road transport is subject to a number of toll stations and numerous fines, such as provincial fees, quasi-sales, and coal Development funds, etc., as high as 100 yuan / ton. As a coal power station, the profit-seeking space is astonishing. For example, the coal trader mentioned above supplied coal to a Hunan power plant, required a rebate of 30-50 yuan/ton for the fuel department of the power plant responsible for procurement, and also had a cost of 20 yuan/ton for the laboratory. "Imagine that if a thermal power plant with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts is installed and coal is burned 3 million tons per year, at an intermediate cost of 50 yuan per ton, this piece will be 15 million yuan."

The pressure of excess production capacity "under the premise of declining coal market conditions, the coal price of large coal companies may reach around 500 yuan/ton, and the market share of large companies will further increase."

According to the data released by the China Coal Industry Association, the total profit of coal enterprises above designated size in the first quarter was 33.32 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 41.2%; the loss of large-scale coal enterprises was 44.4%, which was 13% higher than that in 2013.

At the same time as the New Deal came out frequently, statistical data showed that the nation’s coal output totaled 301 million tons in April, down 1.31% year-on-year. Currently, some small coal mines in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia have ceased production.

“Under the premise of overcapacity in coal production, technical transformation and expansion of production are still underway. However, under the premise of energy structure transformation, will these capacities be digested?” said Huang Teng, general manager of Beijing Changmao Consulting Co., Ltd. In an oversupply situation, sales to the domestic market at low prices, coupled with the acceleration of the process of replacing some of the coal used by natural gas, have made it difficult for coal consumption to keep pace with capacity expansion.

Li Ting pointed out that at present domestic coal production and construction capacity is 5.5 billion tons. However, according to relevant statistics and the latest work plan, China's total coal consumption may soon reach its peak before and after 2015, and coal consumption in 2017 may fall to 2.48 billion tons of standard coal (ie, 3.48 billion tons of raw coal).

According to a joint report issued by the three ministries and commissions recently, the “Work Plan for Strengthening Air Pollution Prevention and Control in the Energy Industry” shows that in 2017, all cities above the prefecture level in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will carry out energy demand management pilot projects. At the same time, by gradually reducing the proportion of coal consumption, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and other regions will strive to achieve a negative growth in total coal consumption; the net reductions in coal consumption in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, and Shandong Province will be 13 million tons respectively. 10 million tons, 40 million tons and 20 million tons, a total of 83 million tons.

Huang Teng believes that for small and medium-sized coal companies, the more important is the strengthening of the market control of large-scale coal enterprises. According to figures provided by a coal enterprise in East China, the cashing rate of Shenhua contracts from January to April was as high as 93%, of which 95% was in East China, and the highest in Jiangsu was 97%. At present, Shenhua’s share of water accounts for 41% of the Bohai-Ring coal port (excluding lignite coal), and Shenhua Coal’s share of the Yangtze River accounts for 29% of Shenhua’s water. “Under the premise that the coal market is declining, coal prices of large coal companies may reach around 500 yuan/ton, which will cause many SMEs to close down.” Huang Teng said that the market share of large companies will further increase.

After China and Russia signed a 30-year gas supply contract of 38 billion cubic meters per year, a Shenzhen-based coal company executive even said: "The thermal coal can continue to be bearish!"