On October 18th, the China National Coal Association announced that the aggregate coal output in China is expected to exceed 3.7 billion tonne this year, while in the current year the newly added coal output capacity has exceeded the growth of demand. Overcapacity plus high import levels are expected to continue to impact the Chinese domestic coal market.
In the January to September period of this year, China's total coal output amounted to 2.88 billion tonne up 3.6% on YoY basis.
In the first Q3, China's overall coal consumption totaled 3.02 billion tonne up by 2.8% YoY.
In the first Q3 quarters, China's coal transportation by railways amounted to 1.683 billion tonne down by 0.1% compared to the same period of last year. As of the end of September this year, total coal inventory in China stood at 287 million tonne.
However, in the given period sales of domestic coal in China reached 2.78 billion tonne increasing by 2.4% YoY.
In the first nine months of this year, China's net coal imports totaled 200 million tonne, indicating an increase of 44% YoY, while the country imported 20 million tonne of coal in September.
Meanwhile, in the January to August period of this year, the aggregate net profit of 90 major coal enterprises in China indicated a decrease of 14.5% YoY.