Coal news and updates

China August coal output down 2.6% at 309 mt

China produced 309 million tonnes of coal in August, down 2.6 percent from last year, with demand weaker than expected and producers scaling back operations in order to minimise losses, the statistics agency said on Sunday.

Coal production for the first eight months of the year was 2.41 billion tonnes, down 4.8 percent compared to the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Coking coal production fell 6.6 percent in August to 37.35 million tonnes, with year-to-date output at 301.5 million tonnes, down 4.2 percent.

The industry has been struggling with a supply glut, a slowdown in major downstream sectors and government measures to reduce pollution that have encouraged the use of cleaner fuels.

China's domestic coal prices have fallen more than 20 percent since the beginning of the year.

source: http://in.reuters.com