CHINA-ECONOMY
China's official news agency, Xinhua quoted Xu Liang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Coal Industry Association as saying demand for coal will slide 2 percent this year and prices will remain at a low level. Output by the world’s largest producer will also fall by 2 percent. Xinhua said China’s coal use is forecast to fall a third year as industrial output slows. China's National Bureau of Statistics separately said that consumption has weakened amid a push to use cleaner fuels and shift a slowing economy away from heavy industry. Demand for coal, which accounted for 64 percent of the country’s total energy use last year, contracted 3.7 percent last year, following a 2.9 percent decline in 2014. Xinhua said “This year’s coal situation is equally bleak.” |