Research On Problems And Countermeasures Of Thermal Coal Imports In China

China is the world's largest coal producer and consumer.Coal has an important status in the energy consumption structure of China.As the biggest class of coal,thermal coal plays an irreplaceable role in China's economic development and its change of supply and demand deserves more research.With the increase of domestic demand for coal after 2000,China reduces its export of coal.China starts to import thermal coal because of the price advantage of imported coal.China has seen its coal importing rise since 2009 when it turned into a net importer of coal from a net exporter and the imported thermal coal has become an important part of Chinese steam coal trade since then.Therefore,the research on China's thermal coal imports has a great significance to sustainable development of coal industry in China.Based on the research of the domestic scholars in the related field,the paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of thermal coal import trade with the method of theoretical research and actual case.The paper provides solutions to the development of steam coal import trade and explores a road towards future trade trend,using thermal coal futures,currency derivatives,supply chain finance,e-commerce platform and etc.Finally this paper proposes some suggestions of coal trade industry.A series of conclusions are made as follows: Financial instruments become an indispensable part in thermal coal import and the trading will be very difficult without financial support.Disintermediation represents a great trend of the whole industry.Internet plus,big data and many new technologies help lower the trade costs and broaden the influential regions of the trading.The application of these technologies also improves the efficiency of coal trade and pushes the industry towards the direction of E-commence mode.