Coal news and updates

LOCAL governments and state-owned firms in China have completed 29 percent of the 2016 coal overcapacity reduction target in the first six months, with some regions still yet to take concrete action, officials said yesterday.

 

Seventeen provincial-level governments and some of the country’s largest state-owned companies have jointly cut 72.27 million tons in coal production capacity, about 29 percent of the 250-million-ton coal reduction target for the year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

 

Hunan and Jiangsu provinces completed 82.9 and 78.2 percent of their cuts in the first six months, while Beijing, Shanxi Province and northwestern Xinjiang were halfway through. Nine other unnamed provinces have yet to cut their coal production overcapacity.

 

The central government named cutting overcapacity among its major supply-side structural reform tasks.

 

Coal production declined 9.7 percent during the first six months of the year to 1.63 billion tons. Inventories went down 8.6 percent in the same period. Meanwhile, coal prices recovered, with coal shipped to Qinhuangdao rising 50 yuan (US$7.50) to 420 yuan per ton on July 20.

Source:shanghaidaily