According to Mr. Hao Xiangbin, a senior official of China Coal Industry Association, China may soon reduce its value-added tax (VAT) and port charges on imported coal to support and promote more coal imports to increase the fuel efficiency.
He added China's coal imports would be at around 150 million tons in the 2011 and he expected that the coal imports would rise further in 2012 and 2013.
Besides, Mr. Hao predicted that the country's coal demand in the second half of this year would be higher than that in the first half.
He estimated that the total coal demand in 2011 would reach 3.73 billion tons, up by 9.7% year on year.
Meanwhile, China imported 70.49 million tons of coal in the first six months of this year, down by 11.8% year on year and its coal exports declined 13.7% year on year to 8.75 million tons