Bank of China International: Still bullish on Yankuang Energy Group (01171) and China Shenhua Energy (01088) in the Chinese coal industry.

China International Capital Corporation (CICC) released a research report stating that due to the lack of significant increase in thermal coal prices, the performance of the Chinese coal industry last year was worse than the market. Looking ahead to this year, the bank predicts that Chinese coal demand will decrease by 0.7% year-on-year, as the demand from almost all major downstream industries is declining. The bank stated that with more abundant supply, it is expected that the average benchmark thermal coal spot price and benchmark coking coal price will decrease by 5% and 12% respectively this year. The bank downgraded the industry rating from "hold" to "neutral", as there are not many companies that can offer attractive dividend yields. However, they still have a positive outlook on Yankuang Energy Group (01171) and China Shenhua Energy (01088).