Mongolia's coal output drops 15% MoM in February

By type, output of hard coal (mainly coking coal for steelmaking) and lignite accounted for 7.65 million tonnes and 997,000 tonnes in February, down 16.2% and 3.9% from January, respectively, Mysteel Global calculated.

The output declined somewhat due to Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian Lunar New Year festival celebrated over February 18-20 this year, when many workers took holiday leave for family reunions, Mysteel Global learnt.

Mongolia's holiday break, in conjunction with the overlapping Spring Festival in China during February 15-23, also delayed coal transport at Sino-Mongolian borders, as major border ports between the two countries halted Customs inspections and clearance over February 17-20, as reported.

As a result, Mongolia's coal exports to China in February also slumped 37.3% on month to 6.35 million tonnes, according to data from Mongolia's Customs General Administration.

On a yearly basis, however, February coal output in Mongolia was higher by 37.3% despite the holiday disruption, with hard coal output up 45.4% and lignite production lower by only 4%, according to the NSO data.

Over January-February, Mongolia's coal output totalled 18.79 million tonnes, surging 46.4% from the same period last year. Output during this year's first two months had already met over 20% of the 90-million-tonne target that the government had proposed in January for this year's production, Mysteel Global notes.

Written by Adrian Zhou, zhouwenhaoa@mysteel.com

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