China Coal Control Jolts World Markets From Steel to Freight
- Imports up more than 12% during the first eight months of 2016
- Met coal prices more than double as best-performing commodity
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China’s efforts to overhaul its coal industry to reduce overcapacity after years of expansion and curb pollution are reverberating through global markets from steel to freight.
Output has fallen more than 10 percent so far this year as the government of President Xi Jinping ordered miners to lower output to the equivalent of 276 days of production, down from 330 days. China has also cut about 150 million metric tons of capacity by the end of August -- equivalent to almost the entire thermal coal exports last year from Colombia and South Africa. China is aiming to chop about 500 million tons by 2020.