IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Trade

CO2 permits cheaper than those in Europe

China traded its first carbon dioxide permits for 22 percent less than the price in Europe on June 18 as the nation inaugurated the Shenzhen Emissions Exchange as part of its plan to limit heat-trapping gases linked to climate change.

The permits were priced from 28 yuan ($4.55; 3.41 euros) to 30 yuan a metric ton, according to Chen Hai'ou, chief executive officer and president of the exchange. That compares with 4.71 euros a ton on June 18 for EU permits on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange, the world's biggest carbon market by traded volume.

Energy

Coal imports fall amid policy worries

China's coal imports, including lignite, fell 3.9 percent in May from April as worries over import policies, high overseas prices and weak local demand curbed sales, data from the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association showed.

China is the world's top coal consumer, and traders said weak domestic demand and uncertainty over whether Beijing might limit imports of low-quality thermal coal to aid struggling domestic coal miners, led buyers to adopt a wary attitude. Limiting imports would largely hit Indonesian miners, whose sales to China have jumped after import taxes on lignite were removed last year.

Steel prices drop as global output falls

China steel prices have dropped despite decreasing global output and easing oversupply, according to an article on the website of the China Iron and Steel Association on Monday. Prices will fluctuate but largely remain low in the foreseeable future, the article said. Starting from the second quarter, overall demand has been rising while demand from industries that use a lot of steel was lower than expected. At the end of May, the price of eight steel products monitored by CISA continued to drop.

Government promotes new energy for heating

The National Energy Administration is to promote solar, geothermal and biomass heating and aims to put it into practice before the end of the year, Shanghai Securities Journal has reported. A draft of the program said 50 million tons of coal equivalent will be replaced by renewable energy by 2015 to generate electricity, up from 30 million tons now.

Currency

Possible Fed action leads to yuan decline

The yuan fell the most in almost two weeks as the People's Bank of China halted five days of strengthening the currency's fixing amid speculation the Federal Reserve will taper its bond-buying program. The central bank set the yuan's reference rate 0.09 percent weaker at 6.16510 per dollar, lowering it by the most since May 13. The BloombergJP Morgan Asian Dollar Index dropped for a second day before the Fed was due to start a two-day meeting.

Real moves may shake up iron-ore market

Vale SA, Brazil's largest exporter, said further local currency depreciation could counter cost rises and a slowdown in Chinese iron-ore demand as it seeks to recapture market share from Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. The real, the worst-performing emerging-market currency over the past three months, is likely to weaken to about 2.40 from 2.15 per US dollar, bolstering Brazil's competitiveness, said Jose Carlos Martins, Vale's executive director for ferrous and strategy.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 06/21/2013 page18)