ZHESHANG SECURITIES·2025-08-03 11:22Investment Rating - The industry investment rating is "Positive" [1] Core Viewpoints - Shenhua plans to acquire group assets, and coal prices are expected to rise in August. Domestic power plants maintain daily coal consumption, leading to continued price increases. The coal association has advocated for controlling production and improving quality, while the Central Financial Committee emphasized the need to regulate low-price competition and promote the orderly exit of backward production capacity. The coking coal sector may see marginal improvements in performance due to environmental factors affecting capacity utilization, with supply and demand gradually balancing in the second half of the year [6][42]. Summary by Sections Coal Market Performance - The coal sector declined, underperforming the CSI 300 index by 2.81 percentage points, with a drop of 4.56% as of August 1, 2025. Among 37 stocks, Chengzhi Co. had the smallest decline at 0.89% [2]. - Key monitored enterprises reported an average daily coal sales volume of 6.64 million tons from July 25 to July 31, 2025, a week-on-week decrease of 6.9% but a year-on-year increase of 0.1%. The total coal inventory was 28.87 million tons, down 5.5% week-on-week and up 15.1% year-on-year [2]. Price Trends - As of August 1, 2025, the price of thermal coal (Q5500K) in the Bohai Rim was 665 CNY/ton, up 0.15% week-on-week. The price of imported thermal coal was 763 CNY/ton, up 0.13% week-on-week. Prices at various ports, including Qinhuangdao and Huanghua, also saw increases [3]. - For coking coal, the main coking coal price at Jingtang Port was stable at 1,650 CNY/ton, while prices for metallurgical coke increased by 3.4% for first-grade and 3.94% for second-grade [4]. Supply and Demand Dynamics - The cumulative coal sales volume for key monitored enterprises was 146.43 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 3.3%. Power and chemical industries saw coal consumption changes of -2.7% and +16.9% respectively [2][41]. - The chemical industry’s total coal consumption was reported at 21.39 million tons as of August 1, 2025, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 16.9% [41]. Investment Recommendations - The report suggests focusing on high-dividend thermal coal companies and turnaround coking coal companies. Key companies to watch include China Shenhua, Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry, and Yanzhou Coal Mining Company for thermal coal, and Huabei Mining and Shanxi Coking Coal for coking coal [6][42].