In the first six months of 2010 China continued to be a net importer of coal, with its net coal imports increasing by nearly 100 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2009. According to some analysts, China's coal import volume in the second half of this year may be less than in the first half, due to the increased prices in the international coal markets.
According to the statistics issued on July 20 by China's National Energy Administration, China imported 81.09 million mt of coal in the first half of the current year, up 70 percent compared with imports of 48.27 million mt in H1 2009. Meanwhile, based on the data issued by Chinese customs, China exported 10.14 million mt of coal in H1 this year, down 13.1 percent year on year. Thus, China registered net coal imports of 70.95 million mt in the first half of this year, up 94 percent compared with 36.60 million in the first six months of 2009.
Meanwhile, China imported 12.11 million mt of coal in June, slightly higher than the figure in May but still significantly down compared with the monthly import volumes in the first four months of this year, all of which were over 13 million mt. In January, China had imported 16.07 million mt of coal, increasing by four times year on year.