Is anything really ever 'normal' in coal inventory?

摘要

Much of what is happening in the current coal industry is adverse to the utility buyers, but they aren't exactly reduced to a Red Riding Hood role, traipsing through the woods, the Big Bad Wolf on the case. Utility inventories are still good, in most areas. Power plants that burn Powder River Basin coal have above average stockpiles, for the most part. On the other hand, some power plants in the Northeast have seen their inventories fall significantly below targets. Southeastern utilities aren't as flush as the PRB burners, but for the most part, they are in better shape than some of their brethren in the Northeast. "Overall, they're okay to high," a transportation source said of stockpiles in the Southeast, a key demand region. "A few plants are not where they need to be."