NBS: China coal output reaches record high in November

On a daily basis, coal production in November averaged 14.27 million tonnes/day, well above October's 13.28 million t/d average, also hitting a record high, according to the NBS data.

The November result meant that for the first eleven months of 2024, China produced approximately 4.32 billion tonnes of coal, up 1.2% from the same period last year, the NBS data showed.

The record-high coal production aligned with increasing demand for thermal electricity, as cold waves continued to sweep across much of the country's northern regions last month, as Mysteel Global reported. This led Chinese power utilities to start building stockpiles of the fossil fuel in preparation for any demand spikes occurring during the coming months-long winter season.

Thermal power generation, mostly through coal burning, reached 517.5 billion kWh in November, jumping by 8.5% from October and also higher by 1.4% from a year earlier. In contrast, low water levels on southern dams caused hydropower generation to slump by 21.5% on month to 82.3 billion kWh, which was also lower by 1.9% from October last year, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the country's production of metallurgical coke in November dipped by 1.3% from a month earlier to 40.68 million tonnes, though this was still higher by 0.6% compared with the same month last year, the NBS data showed.

Chinese makers of metallurgical coke had shown less enthusiasm for production compared to the autumn months, as November typically marks a seasonal slowdown in domestic steel consumption.

Total coke output for the first eleven months of this year stood at 446.7 million tonnes, down 0.9% from the same period last year, the NBS data showed.

Written by Winnie Han, hanyueran@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

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