- China’s daily coal output averages 12.3 mnt in Jul’25
- Tight supply boosts coking, thermal coal prices
Mysteel Global: China’s raw coal production totalled 381 million tonnes (mnt) in July, down 9.5% from the previous month and marking this year’s lowest so far, according to the latest data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published on Friday morning. The volume also declined by 3.8% from July last year, the data showed.
Daily output of raw coal in July averaged 12.3 mnt, the NBS’ data showed, down by 12.1% compared with the average of 14 mnt/day in June, Mysteel Global calculated based on the data.
Last month, the warning issued by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) of a crackdown on coal companies producing beyond their approved capacity disrupted domestic coal production, as reported. As local mining industry authorities in North China began spot inspections, some coal mines in the country’s key coal producing hubs, such as Shanxi province, reined in production, causing supply to tighten.
Besides the NEA’s inspections, coal mining operations in many opencut thermal coal mines in North China’s Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, and Northwest China’s Shaanxi province, were suspended in late July as heavy rainstorms caused equipment malfunctions and raised mine-safety issues, as reported, which also contributed to the overall decline in domestic raw coal production in July, Mysteel Global learned.
Tighter coal supplies last month served to boost market sentiment, which reinforced prices of both domestic coking and thermal coal, Mysteel data indicates.
On July 31, Mysteel assessed the national composite coking coal price at Yuan 1,200.3/tonne ($167.1/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by a significant Yuan 259.6/t from July 1, with the prices of some coking coal grades surging by as much as Yuan 500/t, according to Mysteel’s data.
Similarly, the domestic price of benchmark 5,500 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal had also risen by Yuan 34/t from July 1 to reach Yuan 653/t by July 31, FOB North China’s Qinhuangdao port with VAT, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
Despite the on-year drop in output in July, China’s cumulative raw coal production over January-July was still higher by 3.8% from the same period last year, totalling 2.8 billion tonnes, according to NBS’s data.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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