Coal capacity expands at Inner Mongolia and Shanxi

Feb 21, 2011

North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous region that produced 787mt last year is to raise capacity to 900 million tonnes in 2011, while coal-rich Shanxi province with an output of 737 million tonnes in 2010 will achieve a 850 million tonnes of capacity this year, announced the National Development and Reform Commission on Feb 11.

Local coal agencies expect capacities to be further lifted to 1 billion tonnes in Inner Mongolia by 2015, but in Shanxi a marginal increase to 960 million tonnes is projected.

Inner Mongolia produced 69.6 million tonnes in Jan, up 26.7% from the same month of last year, but down 21.8% from Dec, while Shanxi mined 58.17 million tonnes, decreasing 4.7% year on year and plunging 18.5% month on month.

The NDRC predicts a slowdown in coal consumption growth this year due to environmental pressures but did not give details.

(sourced:China Coal Times)