In August this year, China’s coal import volume totaled 20.44 million mt, down 15.8 percent or 3.83 million mt month on month, according to the China National Energy Administration. Meanwhile, China’s coal import volume in August decreased by 0.7 percent compared to the same period of last year, indicating the first year-on-year decrease in 2012.
In the January-August period of this year, China’s coal import volume amounted to 185 million mt, up 46.3 percent year on year and already exceeding the country’s total coal import volume for the whole of last year. In 2011, China imported 182.4 million mt of coal, up 10.8 percent on year-on-year basis.