According to the official figures, China imported 68.922 million mt of coal in the first five months of the current year. The import volumes of coal in each month from January to May are respectively 16.078 million mt, 13.107 million mt, 15.222 million mt, 13.517 million mt and 10.998 million mt, posting an increase of 437 percent, 169 percent, 166 percent, 48 percent and 17 percent compared with the corresponding period of 2009. Thus, we can see that the year-on-year growth rate of China's coal imports in the first five months of the current year has declined from month to month.
Since February 2009 China has increased its imports of overseas coals. It is expected that China will import 115 million mt of thermal coal in 2010, compared with 110 million mt imported by Japan.