China Resources, Shenhua coal price not set - paper

SHANGHAI, March 31 (Reuters) - China Resources Group and Shenhua Group have not set term coal prices for this year, but Shenhua will offer low prices to China Resources as part of their 5-year, 85 million-tonne coal supply contract, the official China Securities Journal quoted unnamed sources as saying on Tuesday.

Shenhua Group has agreed to offer prices to China Resources no higher than term prices with Guohua Electric Power, Shenhua's power generating subsidiary, or the lowest prices it could offer to power companies, a source with China Resources told the paper.

Shenhua would supply 8 million tonnes of thermal coal to China Resources this year, 12 million tonnes in 2010, 15 million tonnes in 2011, 20 million tonnes in 2012, and 30 million tonnes in 2013, the paper said.

Each year's coal supply could increase or reduce by 10 percent, but 95 percent of the contract has to be delivered.

During power shortages last year, many coal miners delayed or refused to deliver contracted amount when spot coal prices shot up, and demanded power companies pay prices higher than contracted prices.

Shenhua asked for 540 yuan per tonne as this year's term price at a meeting with power companies in December, up nearly 17 percent from a year earlier.

So far it has not been accepted by the country's top five power generating companies, including Huaneng, Datang, Guodian, Huadian and China Power Investment. (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Kim Coghill)