Coal production in China rose to a new high in 2022
2023.01.17 02:37
Coal production in China rose to a new high in 2022
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – China’s rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak has sickened miners and slowed demand from industrial users, resulting in a decline in daily coal production in December from November’s record.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Tuesday that China produced 402.69 million tonnes of coal last month, or 12.99 million tonnes per day.
This is in contrast to November’s 13.04 million tonnes per day and December 2021’s 12.41 million tonnes.
According to NBS data, total production in 2022 increased to a record 4.496 billion tonnes, or 9% more than in 2021.
The sudden abandonment of Beijing’s strict zero-COVID policy at the end of November has resulted in significant rises in COVID cases. Numerous sick days have been recorded by workers at coal mines in major mining regions like Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.
Coal demand from non-utility sectors like steel and cement is expected to rise in the medium term as restrictions are lifted, but the rising number of COVID cases has forced factories to reduce output due to labor shortages.
Through the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of this week, the slowdown in industrial demand is expected to continue. The slowdown has continued into January.
Given Beijing’s emphasis on enhancing energy security, it is anticipated that China’s coal production will continue to grow in 2023. It is estimated that the country will have approved coal mining capacity of 260 million tonnes in 2022, bringing the total capacity to 5.05 billion tonnes.
Additionally, the National Development and Reform Commission urged utilities to expand term contracts with domestic miners in 2023, which should encourage miners to increase output further.
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