Latest News

China's June coal output increases to six-month high up on summer need

China's coal output rose to a sixmonth high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as mines increase production to satisfy seasonal need and safety evaluations that constrained production earlier in the year eased.

The world's largest coal manufacturer mined 405.38 million metric lots of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase on the year and the highest since December, data from the National Bureau of Stats (NBS) showed.

The six-month high was computed by averaging out January-February production, since NBS reports the two months in a combined information release to ravel the results of the lunar new year holiday which falls in either month.

Analysts at Galaxy Futures associated the greater output in June to seasonal effects from the Northern Hemisphere summer season increasing demand for a/c as temperature levels increase. They also mentioned an improvement in the rate of lethal mining accidents enabling some mines to reboot operations.

Lower production from China's coking coal center of Shanxi had actually weighed on output throughout the March-May period after the local government ordered a series of security checks following an uptick in fatal mishaps, and told miners to curb excess production. The province mined 29% of China's coal in 2015.

Typical everyday output in June rose to 13.5 million lots, according to ' computations using the NBS information, also the highest considering that December.

Output will continue increasing in the third quarter because of seasonal need, the Galaxy Futures analysts anticipate. But July development might be constrained by China's third plenum, a key political conference happening July 15-18, during which authorities are anticipated to maintain some limitations on output to prevent accidents.

The lower output during January-May continued to weigh on the year-on-year comparison for the very first half of 2024.

Output in the January-June duration was 2.27 billion loads, down 1.7% compared to the same period last year.

(source: Reuters)