Abstract: China is the country with largest coal-energy reserves, and also the largest coal producer and consumer in the world. Power coal futures have an impact on the spot market. Factors affecting the prices of power coal mainly include macroeconomic situation at domestic, variation of the international coal price, coal consumption in downstream power plants, and major rail transport quantity (Datong-Qinhuangdao line) and so on. Qualitative and quantitative methods are integrated to analyze the development status of power coal futures. According to the variation interaction between spot market price and futures market, effects of the thermal coal futures on avoiding price fluctuation risks in the spot market are discussed. The study shows that power coal futures listed can avoid the price volatility risk for power coals industry chain and industries involved.

Key words: Power coal futures, Thermal coal spot market, Impact analysis, Price fluctuation