China Produced Less Coal Than Consumed In 2007; Shortages To Continue Into 2010 - Age

[hatrack]

China, the world's largest coal consuming nation, used more coal than it produced in 2007 and will stay short through at least 2010, a coal industry official said on Tuesday. China's demand for coal is expected to rise to 2.76 billion tonnes in 2008, from 2.62 billion tonnes in 2007, said Wu Chenghou, executive director of the Coal Sale and Transportation Association of China.

Wu estimated China produced 2.58 billion tonnes of coal in 2007, slightly above an estimate of 2.52 billion tonnes issued by the State Administration of Work Safety.

He did not comment on whether the country had drawn down coal stocks in 2007 to remain a net exporter, despite producing less than it consumed. China has not yet issued official output data for 2007, and often revises that figure several times.

Customs data released Tuesday showed the country's net exports of coal fell sharply to 2 million tonnes in 2007, compared with net exports of 25.1 million tonnes in 2006 .

EDIT

http://news.theage.com.au/china-coal-shortage-to-continue/20080116-1m7u.html

[midnight]

1. Maybe they are retooling, and going solar!!!!

[phantom power]

3. I like you. You make me laugh.

[NickB79]

2. From 25 million tons to 2 million in just one year

Wow.

[hogwyld]

4. How can they consume

more than they produce, and still export 2 million tons? Some funny math they are employing...

[Nihil]

5. Maybe ...

... they were a net exporter at the start of the year but crossed the
boundary to a net importer by the end of the year? (Probably due to all
those coal-fired powerstations they've been building.)

Alternatively, they had to meet contractual obligations abroad before the
internal market hogged all of the output?

:shrug:

[GliderGuider]

6. Canada is in a similar situation regarding oil

We produce 3 mbpd, consume 2.3 mbpd, export 1.6 mbpd and import about 0.9 mbpd.

Typically this situation results from a combination of two factors. The first are contractual obligations to export partners. The second is internal transport infrastructure peculiarities that make it cheaper to import a product into some sections of the country by sea than to ship the product overland within the country.