According to preliminary data unveiled by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's 2018 raw coal production rose by 5.2% to nearly 3,550 Mt. In December 2018, coal production increased by 2.1% in December 2018 (over 320 Mt). This is the highest level in the last three years as major domestic producers opened up new mines and ramped up production amid rising winter demand.
China expects coal production to average 3,900 Mt/year by 2020 and is slowly reshuffling its coal market. The creation of super-large coal mining companies through mergers is under consideration by the end of 2020, in order to streamline and modernize the sector. Each newly created company would have a production capacity averaging around 100 Mt/year so that they could compete on the global market. The planned mergers would also help China meet its target to eliminate nearly 800 Mt of outdated capacity and add around 500 Mt of advanced production.
As of today, only six Chinese coal mining companies have a yearly output of more than 100 Mt/year, including Shenhua Group, China Coal Energy Group and Datong Coal Mine Group. There are more than 4,000 coal mines with a cumulated capacity of 3,500 Mt/year.
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