China's coal-rich Shanxi Province sees coal output fall 18.9 pct in Q1

The output of raw coal in north China's Shanxi Province, a leading coal producer of the country, totaled about 271.62 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2024, down 18.9 percent year on year, local authorities said Thursday.

The figure accounted for about 24.6 percent of the country's coal production in the same period, ranking the province second in coal output nationwide, according to the Shanxi provincial statistics bureau.

As of the end of 2022, China's coal reserves totaled approximately 207.01 billion tonnes, with Shanxi alone accounting for about 48.3 billion tonnes of these reserves, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

China's energy-rich provinces are experiencing a profound transformation in their industrial structure and energy mix as they strive for high-quality growth.

Shanxi is expected to see its coal output hit around 1.3 billion tonnes in 2024, according to a work plan issued by the provincial government. Its coal output will voluntarily reduce for the first time this year after seven consecutive years of rapid growth from 832 million tonnes in 2016 to 1.378 billion tonnes in 2023.

Shanxi proposed that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), new and clean energy would account for 50 percent of its total installed capacity and 30 percent of its total power generation.