China Datang Corp, one of the country's five biggest power generators, has been given the green light to expand into the coal-mining business, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said on its website.

Analysts say if China's utility companies could supply 30 percent of their own coal demand, they would be less vulnerable to coal price fluctuations.

The disagreement between China's utility companies and coal miners over this year's term price for coal forced many local thermal power producers to purchase cheaper coal overseas.

Chinese coal miners aimed to charge power producers 10 percent more for the fuel under the 2009 annual contracts, while power producers wanted a price cut of as much as 10 percent as electricity demand has fallen, Xie Juchen, a fuel purchasing director at China Electricity Council, said in December 2008.

SASAC also said on its website that it has allowed China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co to expand into the overseas uranium exploration business.

The added business operations aim to encourage better re-source allocation and therefore increase the companies' core competence, SASAC said.

(China Daily March 26, 2009)