China's spot coal prices at Qinhuangdao, the country's top coal shipping port, remained above price caps the government set last week, suggesting the policy was so far having limited impact on the market, traders said on Tuesday.

    Prices for coal with thermal value of 5,500 kcal/kg were quoted at 860 to 1,000 yuan per tonne, down 10 to 110 yuan yuan from a week earlier, although sellers were unwilling to do business at prices at the lower end of that range, traders said.

    China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, last Thursday set a price cap of 860 yuan per tonne on that type of coal at Qinhuangdao. (For details, click [ID:nL24104619])"There are buyers at 860 yuan, but no one is willing to sell," said Li Chaolin, an industry analyst based in Beijing.

    Traders said they were not willing to lose money in order to conform with the price controls.

    "The price cap is useless. No one is following it," said a Qinhuangdao-based trader.

    A website that usually carries Qinhuangdao coal price information has removed it, fearing that publishing prices above the caps could give the impression of improper dealings, an industry official with knowledge of the situation said.

    The NDRC's website (www.ndrc.gov.cn) said on Tuesday, however, that officials of the Qinhuangdao city government sent to the Qinhuangdao Seaborne Coal Market to check prices had discovered no deals that violated the cap.

    China is facing a serious power shortage as it prepares for next month's Beijing Olympics, partly caused by tight supplies of coal but also due to high coal prices that have discouraged utilities from building up coal stocks.