Weekly: Shanxi could accelerate mine restarts; Jul ‘26 LNG offload +3% YoY

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Energy - China

Weekly: Shanxi could accelerate mine

restarts; Jul ’26 LNG offload +3% YoY

Industry Overview

Coal: Shanxi highlight needs to accelerate mine restarts

During the week ended 31 Jul 2026, the QHD 5,500kcal price was +0.1% WoW to

RMB827/t. Ports inventory (Northern +Southern) was -3.8% WoW to 23.35mnt as of 30

Jul 2026. Inventory at the six major IPPs was -0.2% WoW to 14.44mnt, daily-burn was up

2.5% WoW to 944kt. The NEWC 6,000K price was -0.3% WoW to US$130.15/t, at a

19.1% premium to the QHD price. The Liulin No.4 HCC price was 2,010/t, flat WoW.

Shanxi’s governor recently highlighted the need to accelerate the inspection,

rectification and restart of idled coal mines on a mine-by-mine basis, while maintaining

stringent enforcement against illegal mining activities. According to Sxcoal, as of 31 July,

62 coking coal mines across Shanxi’s five major producing regions remained offline,

representing 75.8mntpa of capacity. However, the situation has improved materially

since late May, with the number of suspended mines declining by 57 and affected

capacity falling by 58.7mntpa compared with 25 May.

Oil & Gas: Brent up 24% in Jul ’26; LNG offload +3% YoY

Oil: Brent oil decreased by 6.9% WoW to US$90.1/b and WTI oil prices decreased by

5.2% WoW to US$84.7/b, during the week-ended 31 Jul as the US paused attack on Iran.

Dirty VLCC (from Arab Gulf to China) dayrate increased to USD137.8k/day. Gas: The JKM

was down 2.5% WoW to US$21.45/ mmbtu. Our tracking flow data shows in Jul ‘26,

7.8bcm/ 5.7mnt LNG offloaded in China, +3% YoY; and 35.7mnt LNG offloaded in China

in 7M26, -2% YoY.

Energy storage: In the week-ended 31 Jul, prices of 100/280 battery cell prices rose

0.001/0.002 RMB/Wh WoW to 0.4285/0.3670 RMB/Wh; 50/314Ah battery cell price

remains flat at 0.4325/ 0.3670 RMB/Wh. The prices of 215KW string PCS and

1725KW/2500KW centralized PCS remain flat WoW at RMB0.093/0.068/0.066/W

respectively in the week ended 31 Jul.

03 August 2026

Equity

China

Energy

Matty Zhao >>

Research Analyst

Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

Yiming Wang >>

Research Analyst

Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

Peter Wang >>

Research Analyst

Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

…