Production, Exports and Imports of Coal in China

The rapid emergence of China as a thermal coal exporter in the mid-1990s highlighted the extent to which changes in China s coal supply and demand balance can contribute to shifts in international coal trade and world energy prices. Since then the coal industry in China has undergone a process of significant realignment in response to capacity expansion by industry and the subsequent increase in demand for energy. China s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have also reduced government intervention in the market. In 2003 and 2004 an increase in domestic demand for coal and infrastructure constraints led to a significant rise in coal prices in China. The increase in demand for both thermal and metallurgical coal in China has been largely met by domestic production. Policy measures by the Chinese Government to increase mine safety, reduce infrastructure bottlenecks and reform pricing mechanisms are aimed at maintaining the domestic coal demand and supply balance.