70 pct of coal overcapacity cut left unfinished by mid-year

Local governments and state-owned firms in China have completed 29 percent of the 2016 coal overcapacity reduction target in the first six months, with some regions still yet to take concrete action, officials said Tuesday.

Seventeen provincial-level governments and some of the country's largest state-owned companies have jointly cut 72.27 million tonnes in coal production capacity, about 29 percent of the 250-million-tonne coal reduction target for the year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Central province Hunan and eastern province Jiangsu completed 82.9 and 78.2 percent of their cuts in the first six months, while Beijing, the northern province of Shanxi and northwestern Xinjiang were halfway through. Nine other provinces have yet to make any dent to their coal production overcapacity.

The statement did not specify the nine provinces lagging behind.

The central government named cutting overcapacity among its major supply-side structural reform tasks.

Coal production fell 9.7 percent during the first half of the year to 1.63 billion tonnes. Inventories went down 8.6 percent in the same period. Meanwhile, coal prices recovered, with coal shipped to Qinhuangdao Port up 50 yuan (7.49 U.S dollars) to 420 yuan per tonne on July 20. Endi