BEIJING
\nChina\u2019s coal output rose to a six-month high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as mines ramped up production to meet seasonal demand and safety inspections that constrained production earlier in the year eased.
\nThe world\u2019s largest coal producer mined 405.38 million metric tons of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase on the year and the highest since December, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
\nThe six-month high was calculated by averaging out January-February production, since NBS reports the two months in a combined data release to smooth out the effects of the lunar new year holiday which falls in either month.
\nAnalysts at Galaxy Futures attributed the higher output in June to seasonal effects from the Northern Hemisphere summer increasing demand for air conditioning as temperatures rise. They also cited an improvement in the rate of deadly mining accidents allowing some mines to restart operations.
\nLower production from China\u2019s coking coal hub of Shanxi had weighed on output during the March-May period after the local government ordered a series of safety checks following an uptick in deadly accidents, and told miners to curb excess production. The province mined 29% of China\u2019s coal last year.
\nAverage daily output in June rose to 13.5 million tons, according to Reuters\u2019 calculations using the NBS data, also the highest since December.
\nOutput will continue rising in the third quarter because of seasonal demand, the Galaxy Futures analysts forecast. But July growth could be constrained by China\u2019s third plenum, a key political meeting taking place July 15-18, during which authorities are expected to maintain some restrictions on output to avoid accidents.
\nThe lower output during January-May continued to weigh on the year-on-year comparison for the first half of 2024.
\nOutput in the January-June period was 2.27 billion tons, down 1.7% compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING China\u2019s coal output rose to a six-month high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as mines ramped up production to meet seasonal demand and safety inspections that constrained production earlier in the year eased. The world\u2019s largest coal producer mined 405.38 million metric tons of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-418698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n