The Shanxi province, one of the largest coal producing provinces of China with nearly 1/4 of domestic coal production, has announced plans to cap annual coal production to 1 Gt and annual capacity to 1.2 Gt by 2020. In 2016, the province succeeded in shedding 23.25 Mt of coal production capacity and shut down 25 coal mines. The target for 2017 has been set at 20 Mt of output capacity. The reduction should be achieved through market and law-based means and the province plans to consolidate the industry around big producers - including by encouraging mergers and acquisitions - to improve the sector's efficiency.
As well, the central province of Hubei, which shut down 10.11 Mt of surplus coal mining capacity in 2016, plans to shut all its coal mines within two years, to boost the use of gas and renewables; the province plans to add 300 km of gas pipelines and to develop 1 GW of new energy capacity in 2017.