Chinese coal prices fell in the first two months this year due to weak demands and high inventory, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Friday.

From January to February, coal output rose 3.6 percent year-on-year to 370 million tonnes. However, the coal exports plunged 41.6 percent to 5.1 million tonnes, the MIIT said.

Coal inventory in major Chinese ports continued to rise because of weak demands. Central Hebei Province's Qinhuangdao Port, for instance, saw its coal inventory rise to 7.67 million tonnes by the end of February, up 24.5 percent over a month earlier.

Prices for high quality coals -- around 5,500 kilocalories per tonne -- in Qinhuangdao Port dropped an average of 7 percent by the end of February to 550 yuan (80.5 U.S. dollars) to 565 yuan per tonne.

On the other hand, MIIT's statistics showed decline trends of electricity generated and electricity used had been eased in the first two months.

From January to February, large-scale power plants generated 488.3 billion kilowatt of electricity, down 3.7 percent year-on-year. Yet the decline was 5.9 percentage points slower compared with last November.

Electricity consumed in the first two months stood at 497.2 billion kilowatt, down 5.2 percent. But the decline slowed down 3.2 percentage points compared with the end of December, according the China Electricity Council.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2009)