China's December 2018 coal output increased 2.1% from a year ago to reach 320.38 million mt or 3.84 billion mt on an annualized basis, according to official data released Monday.
China's annual coal production up 5.2%
2018 coal imports up 3.9% on the year
The country's annual coal production in 2018 reached 3.55 billion mt, rising 5.2% year on year as the government replaced outdated production capacity with higher-quality coal supply, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
However, domestic thermal coal supply was expected to tighten in the aftermath of a recent mining accident in Shaanxi province.
Market sources expect stringent safety checks to impact the supply situation till March.
The statement added that China's imports of crude oil and natural gas surged in 2018.
Crude oil imports rose 10.1% year on year, while natural gas imports jumped nearly 32% year on year.
The increase in December coal output comes as imports collapsed 55% that month from November in response to increased import controls.
The country had earlier reiterated that it would maintain the import levels of 2018 below 2017's level.
Despite that China imported a total of 281.23 million mt of crude coal, up 3.9% on the year, according to customs data.
While there had been no official announcements on the import quota for this year, market sources expect the import volume to be kept at the 2017 level.
According to customs data, China imported 271 million mt of coal in 2017, including both thermal and met coals.
