Based on the data issued by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in the first four months of this year China's net imports of coal declined by 27.2 percent year on year.
The NDRC figures also indicated that in the January-April period of the current year China's raw coal output recorded a rapid increase to 1.121 billion mt. In addition, in the given period shipments of coal via China's railways increased by 13.1 percent, while shipments of coal from China's ports registered an increase of 21.4 percent, both compared to the same period of last year.