China's Coal Production up 18.5% over Last Year

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--According to a National Development and Reform Commission report covering the first five months of 2008 on coal and crude oil production and power generation, China produced 227 million tons of coal in May, up 18.5% over last May. In the first five months, the country China produced 1.01 billion tons of coal, up 15.9% over the same period last year.

Because of the rising price of coal, difficulties in transportation and several other reasons, some regions are faced with low coal stockpiles. At the end of May, the coal stock for power plants was about 20.68 million tons, or 890,000 tons lower than April and 6.22 million tons lower than last May. China's coal exports decreased 4.1% in May to 18.5 million tons, and imports declined 18.1%, to 18.8 million tons.

In the power sector, generation capacity in May was 11.8% higher year over year. Coal-fired power rose 9.2% and hydropower rose 28.5%. From January to May, China generated about 1.4 trillion kilowatt-hours of power, 13.7% higher than the same period last year, but the growth rate was 2.1 percentage points lower.

It is estimated that China will have a power gap of about 10 million kilowatts in the middle of summer during the Olympics, which is in Beijing. About 85% of the gap will be in southern China's power grid.

As for crude production, China's oil output grew 1.8% in May and natural gas output rose 12%. However, processing capacity declined 1.1%. Gasoline output fell 6.4% but diesel output rose 2.6%.

In the first five months, China produced 78.36 million tons of crude oil, a rise of 1.7% on year over year. Crude oil imports totaled about 75.97 million tons, up 12.7%. Crude-oil processing amounted to 140.23 million tons, up 5.1%, in which the output of gasoline and diesel rose 3.1% and 8.2%, respectively. The output of natural gas rose 17.7% to 35.1 billion cubic meters.

As for chemical products, ethylene output rose 4.6%, caustic soda rose 11.4%, soda rose 14.7%, fertilizers rose 5.6% and pesticides rose 18.5%.

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