Thermal coal price tops 1,000 yuan again, listed miners’ earnings seen rising

The return of thermal coal above the 1,000-yuan threshold matters less as a headline number than as a signal that supply tightness is persisting into the winter stocking window, which is precisely when miners' pricing power tends to peak. The earnings dispersion already visible in first-half results — eight in ten improving — suggests the benefit is broad-based rather than confined to a few low-cost producers, though the durability of that margin expansion depends on whether spot strength carries into contract negotiations. Whether the current supply-demand imbalance persists beyond the winter restocking cycle is the open question for the sector's second-half trajectory.