"China's coal output rose 6.8 percent year on year to 827 million tons in the first four months of 2009, an industry association official said in Beijing Friday.
The global economic slowdown has taken a toll on the coal industry, Jiang Zhimin, deputy director of the China Coal Industry Association, said at the 5th China Energy Strategy Summit in Beijing.
"Weak demand has resulted in a clear trend for overcapacity," he said.
The industry faces challenges of eliminating outdated production facilities and the building of more modern and large coal mine groups, Jiang said at the two-day event, which ends Saturday.Around 70 percent of the 80,000 coal mine producers in China are small. They each have an annual production of 300,000 tons, Jiang announced at the two-day event which ends Saturday.
China has 24 coal mine groups which each have an annual output of more than 10 million tons. In 2008, those groups produced a total of 840 million tons, he said.
The Chinese government has been encouraging mergers and acquisitions to build more large mining groups for efficiency and work safety."
The question one might ask is if the US destroys its coal industry and China continues to grow as they have stated above, what is to become of the US.
Posts
