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As the world’s largest coal producer and consumer, China uses coal for 77% of its primary energy production and 80% of its electricity production.
The country’s imports rose to 25.1 million tonnes over the year period according to a report by Bloomberg citing the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association.
Although China holds the third largest domestic coal reserves in the world, imports are expected to continue to increase over the coming months due to power generation demands and low international prices compared to domestic prices.
“We remain very bullish regarding upcoming prospects for Chinese coal imports because regional thermal-coal export prices remain very low,” Commodore Research & Consultancy president Jeffrey Landsberg said in the report.
“In the summer months ahead, we expect electricity production will continue to increase rapidly and will set several new records.”
China’s coal reserves stand at 114 billion tonnes but production has not kept pace with skyrocketing domestic demand.
In 2008, China became a net coal importer and in 2010 surpassed the US as the world’s largest energy consumer.
By 2010, China’s coal imports were estimated to be around 170Mt, according to the World Coal Association.
