Coal news and updates

China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd's coal sales in 2014 fell 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 451.1 million tonnes because of slowing demand and production cuts, the company said on Tuesday.

 

China's biggest listed coal producer, which is a vehicle of state-owned Shenhua Group, said 2014 preliminary net profits fell 19.8 percent from a year earlier to 36.6 billion yuan ($5.9 billion).

 

China's mammoth coal sector is struggling with depressed prices and a debilitating supply glut, with demand hurt by slowing economic growth as well as a state campaign to cut the country's dependence on polluting fossil fuels.

 

Shenhua Energy said its power sales fell 5.l percent last year to 199.44 billion kilowatt hours, with the share of clean energy sources rising over the period.

 

China has not yet published full coal production data for 2014, but preliminary estimates suggest output fell 2.5 percent, which would be the first annual drop in more than a decade.

 

More than 70 percent of mining firms suffered losses in the first 11 months of last year, according to the China Coal Industry Association, with profits down 44 percent.

 

The government has been trying to shore up prices in the sector by imposing production cuts and restricting access to cheap, low-grade coal imports. ($1 = 6.2405 Chinese yuan) 

 

 

Source: Reuters