The coal imports in China witnessed a considerable rise in the month of July that hit a record high in four and a half years. This happened because the demand for coal-fired electricity increased during the summer as mentioned in the reports.
Talking about the figures, China imported 29 million tons of coal in July. According to the data from the General Administration of Customs, the import has been up 49 percent year-on-year, the highest monthly volume since January 2014.
“The authorities have vowed to ensure coal supplies and keep prices running smoothly during the peak season, therefore checks on imports could not be tightened in the short term,” said Cheng Gong, a coal analyst at Zheshang Securities.
The value of imports increased 63 percent year-on-year to 17.9 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in July. Increased imports and port inventories kept the level coal prices from increasing drastically.
The country is promoting the use of clean energy to reduce its dependence on coal, however, it still showed 60.4 percent of the country’s energy consumption in 2017. The share decreased by 1.6 percent points from the last year.
Electric power loads on the transmission grid in China surged late last month because of high temperatures, with southern areas of the Hebei province that surrounds Beijing reporting record demand and the State Grid Corporation of China warning of power shortages.