China’s April coal output falls from record high in March

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SINGAPORE – China’s average daily coal output fell in April from a record a month ago, official data showed on Tuesday, as some miners cut output due to weather harsh and due to reduced demand.

China produced 381.45 million tonnes of coal last month, up 4.5% from a year earlier and down 8.6% from March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows. .

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Average daily output in April was 12.72 million tonnes compared with a record 13.46 million tonnes in March, according to Reuters calculations based on NBS data.

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In the first four months of 2023, China produced 1.53 billion tons of coal, 4.8% higher than the same period in 2022.

Output has fallen since March as unseasonal snow hit Inner Mongolia in early April, forcing some open pit mines to close and slowing road transport.

In addition, a 30-day maintenance project at a major coal-transporting railway from Datong to the port of Qinhuangdao has limited logistics and limited output growth at the coal mines.

Coal output also increased year-on-year even as major mining regions such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi tightened safety checks following a deadly accident in late February.

About 32 coal mines with a total capacity of 50.1 million tons have been closed due to safety concerns.

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The closures were offset by the launch of new coal capacity, after Beijing approved hundreds of expansion projects over the past two years.

Analysts estimate 300 million tonnes of coal mining capacity has been added in China by 2022 and at least another 89 million tonnes will be added by 2023.

The country’s state planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, in April urged coal miners to increase output and execute fixed-term contracts to supply coal miners. electric Factory.

Coal output in May is expected to stabilize or fall further as some mines plan maintenance during the low demand season, traders and analysts said. April and May are usually low season for coal and electricity consumption when temperatures rise but not high enough to spur demand for air conditioners.

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NBS data shows that electricity production in April was 658.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), up 6.1 percent year-on-year but down 8.2 percent from March. of April is the lowest since October.

The average utilization rate at large coal mines was 85.1% in early May, data tracked by the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association (CCTD) shows. That compares with about 85.7% in mid-April and 82% in the same period last year.

CCTD data also showed coal mine inventories at 68 million tonnes at the end of April, up 7.5% from a month ago.

NBS said that in April, China produced 41.29 million tons of coke, up 2.3% from a year earlier. (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Tom Hogue, Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)