The progress beyond analyst forecasts and company benchmarks for the period coincides with a 30% increase in operating expenses and an 11% increase in coal production compared to the half-year point in 2011.

Total commercial coal production reached 159 million tonnes over the period while sales volume climbed 16% to 222Mt.

Electric power output and transportation turnover also increased over the period, 15% and 8% respectively.

The Beijing-based group attributed the advances to an initiative of synergized efforts enacted to mitigate drastic short-term changes in the market, including organization, efficiency and operational integration strategies.

Shenhua said strengthening production organization, management of coal quality, anti-risk capability and optimization of connections between production, transportation and sales contributed to maximizing interests over the half-year.

A “quickly-reacting form of centralized sales system” which prioritized marketing, flexibility and the optimization of spot sales was also cited as a deciding factor in the miner’s navigation of a slacking domestic coal market.

Domestic coal sales increased 17% to 220Mt, 131Mt of which were generated from spot sales. Spot sales for the company increased 30% compared to the same time last year.

The company expanded domestic markets during the period through increased exploration of southern markets and south-bound railway transportation developments.

Shenhua’s outlook for the second half of the year predicts a modest increase in coal demand and a restoration of the coal supply-demand balance within China as dangerous small mines continue to be shut down en masse.

New projects for the second half-year 2012 will include further optimization of sales flexibility and pricing mechanisms, initiatives to improve customer service and an expansion of power and transportation presence in domestic and overseas segments.

Shenhua’s overseas businesses include the GH EMM project in Indonesia and the Watermark project in Australia.

GH EMM consists of two 150-megawatt coal-fired generators and an open cut coal mine with a production capacity of 2Mt per annum. The GH EMM mine produced 900,000t of coal in the first half of the year.

Watermark, situated in the emerging Gunnedah coal basin of New South Wales, is targeting 10Mtpa of coal over a 30-year mine life.

Group-wide, Shenhua holds a JORC-compliant marketable coal reserve of 9.2 billion tonnes.