The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planner, recently commissioned China Shenhua Energy Co, the nation's largest coal producer, to build 10 storage facilities for coal across the country, a senior company executive said.

"Right now, we are still picking sites (for the facilities)," Hao Gui, vice-president of China Shenhua Energy Co, or Shenhua, said on Saturday at a seminar to discuss the development strategy for the newly-built Yangkou Port in Jiangsu province. He did not elaborate on the specific candidate sites of the 10 coal reserve bases or their reserve capacity.

Since August 2008, the Chinese government has started revising coal legislation to include a strategic coal reserve by 2015. Currently, there are no national strategic coal reserves in China and only some enterprises keep a certain quantity of coal in stock.