China’s April coal output rebounds from 5-month low in March

21 May 2018

China produced 293 million tonnes of coal in April, up 4.1 percent from the same month a year earlier, data from the National Statistics Bureau showed on Tuesday, as miners ramped up domestic supplies after China tightened import curbs.

April’s production was also an increase from 290 million tonnes in March, which was the weakest level since October.

For the January-April period, output climbed to 1.1 billion tonnes, up 3.8 percent compared with the same period of last year.

“The top three coal-producing regions Shanxi, Sha’anxi and Inner Mongolia ramped out their supplies in the first four months”, the statistics bureau said in a statement, adding that imports in April fell sharply.

China’s second-largest producer, China Coal Energy Co., previously said it produced 6.4 million tonnes of coal in April, up more than 6 percent compared with the same period last year.

China adopted tighter anti-pollution restrictions on imports of the fuel in the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Guangxi and Fujian, helping thermal coal prices bottom out from an eight-month low on April 13.

Meanwhile, coke output in April fell 3.6 percent from the same month a year ago to 36.72 million tonnes, but still stood at its highest monthly level since September 2017.

Source: REUTERS