China’s thermal coal imports ‘will fall 10-12 million tonnes in 2019’
- Rising domestic output behind the fall, predicted by a leading industry analyst
- Country set to produce extra 100 million tonnes of coal this year
China’s thermal coal imports will decline by between 10 million and 12 million tonnes in 2019, a leading industry analyst said on Tuesday, largely because of rising domestic output in the world’s top producer and consumer.
The country’s coal output will increase from the second quarter of 2019, reducing its reliance on overseas supplies, Rodrigo Echeverri, head of hard commodities at trader Noble Group, told an industry conference in Shanghai.
China is set to produce an additional 100 million tonnes of coal this year, Wang Hongqiao, vice-president of China National Coal Association, said earlier at the same event.
“Coal demand for power generation in China will increase but the growth rate of general coal consumption will slow down,” Wang said, leading to a glut of the fuel and “severely disrupting” the market.
China produced 4 billion tonnes of coal in 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It also added 194 million tonnes in mine capacity that year, despite promising to cut excess capacity for the sector.