The reduction in coal imports to China amid an increase in its own production puts pressure on global prices and intensifies competition between exporters. Kirill Chernovol, a researcher at the Gaidar Institute’s Laboratory for Analysis of Best International Practices, told Prime.
“China is currently the largest consumer and importer of coal in the world, so the decline in demand and the fall in coal prices in the country will also affect world prices. However, lower prices in China are not the cause of the fall in world prices, but only a confirmation of the global trend. An 8% increase in China’s own coal production and a 13% decrease in imports show that the country may not need a lot of imported coal at the moment — as a consequence, existing major exporters — primarily Australia and Indonesia — have to either reduce the prices at which coal is sold or increase exports to other markets, such as India. However, demand in all countries is limited, which means that prices will continue to fall more and more in the face of competition,” the expert said.