China’s coal output hits record, fueling oversupply concerns

Bloomberg News | December 16, 2024 | 

A coal mine near Hailar, Inner Mongolia. (Image by Herry Lawford, Flickr).

China’s coal production hit an all-time high last month, adding to concerns of an oversupply of the nation’s mainstay fuel.


China mined 428 million tons of raw coal above ground in November, up 1.8% from a year earlier, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. Its domestic output output is poised to rise for the eighth straight year in 2024.




The record-breaking month comes on the back of Beijing’s energy-security push. The government reopened shuttered mines and accelerated approvals to new mines after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 boosted the cost of fuel imports.

The surge in domestic supply is colliding with weak coal demand as China’s economic recovery falters. Coal prices in the Asian country fell to the lowest level in over a year on Monday, while the nation’s power generation growth slowed last month.