Raw coal output at China’s three major production areas – Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi – totalled 1.03 billion tonnes in the first five months this year, taking 70.3% of the country’s total, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The proportion was up slightly from 70.14% in January-April, data showed.
By the end of 2019, Shanxi had a total 643 coal mines in production
China’s raw coal production totalled 14.71 billion tonnes during the same period, a year-on-year increase of 0.9%, which was slower from 1.3% increase in January-April, data showed.
Northern China’s Shanxi province produced 394.79 million tonnes of raw coal in the first five months, up 1.6% year on year and accounting for 26.83% of China’s total.
Followed was neighboring Inner Mongolia region with 390.62 million tonnes, down 8.6% year on year and taking 26.55% of China’s total.
Shaanxi province in northwestern China contributed 16.92% of the country’s total raw coal output, at 248.96 million tonnes in January-May, 22.8% higher than a year ago.
Shanxi has once again ranked first among Chinese provinces and regions in terms of raw coal output since this year, while Inner Mongolia, which had topped for at least 18 consecutive months, has fallen to second.
This was mainly due to Shanxi’s faster resumption of production after COVID-19 suspension. However, it is expected that in the whole year, Inner Mongolia’s raw coal production would exceed Shanxi, at over 1 billion tonnes.
By the end of 2019, Shanxi had a total 643 coal mines in production, with combined capacity of 994.75 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). There were 309 coal mines each with a capacity of 1.2 Mtpa or above, and combined capacity stood at 743.8 Mtpa, accounting for 74.77% of the province’s total.
In May, China produced 318.84 million tonnes of raw coal, down 0.1% year on year
Inner Mongolia had 383 coal mines in production by the end of last year, with combined capacity of 897 Mtpa, lower than that in Shanxi, 198 coal mines of which had capacity at 1.2 Mtpa or above. These coal mines had total capacity of 781.9 Mtpa, 87.17% in the region’s total, both higher than that in Shanxi.
In May, China produced 318.84 million tonnes of raw coal, down 0.1% year on year and 1% from a month ago. Daily output came in at 10.29 million tonnes, a fall of 450,000 tonnes compared with the average in April.
Shanxi still ranked first with raw coal production of at 85.33 million tonnes, down 0.6% on the year and 0.72% month on month, followed was Inner Mongolia, which churned out 83.89 million tonnes of raw coal, down 12.9% year on year and falling 1.62% from the preceding month.
Shaanxi’s coal output surged 21.2% from the year prior and grew 1.16% from last month to 56.66 million tonnes in May, data showed.
Guangxi, in southwestern China, logged the steepest year-on-year decline of 36.7% to 305,700 tonnes in May and a 38.4% fall to 1.02 million tonnes during the first five months.
Shaanxi’s coal output surged 21.2%
Hubei witnessed the biggest increase of 88.89% monthly and 42.2% year on year in raw coal production last month, at 34,000 tonnes, data showed.
Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai cities, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hainan provinces, and Xizang autonomous region did not produce raw coal last month.
Source: SXCoal.com
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