China’s Coal Imports Fall Sharply as Domestic Output and Renewables Rise

China’s coal imports booked a decline last year, at 9.6% from 2024 to a total of 490 million tons. The sizable decline was driven by higher domestic production and a rare decline in thermal power generation, Bloomberg reported, citing official import data.

The publication noted that the coal import decline was the steepest among all the major commodities that the country buys from abroad and that it was the sharpest annual decline in a decade.

Gas imports declined by 2.8% last year, to a total of 127.87 million tons, Reuters said in a report citing the statistics data released today by Beijing, noting that in December, on the other hand, gas imports surged by 16.3% to 13.45 million tons. That hike was prompted by seasonal demand growth. That same demand growth drove coal imports higher in December, with the total hitting 58.59 million tons, up by 12% on the year. Oil imports also strengthened in December, to 12 million bpd.

Coal-powered generation in China, meanwhile, declined last year, albeit modestly, and was on track to record its first overall annual decline since 2015. Over the first 11 months of the year, electricity generated from coal and gas plants ticked down by a modest 0.7%, Bloomberg reported in December, citing government data. In November alone, thermal power output dipped by 4.2%.

Indeed, this week, transition advocacy outlet Carbon Brief reported that coal-powered generation in China had shrunk by 1.6%, with India also seeing a decline in coal-powered generation by 3%. This was the first time for both countries to book a decline in coal generation since 1973, Carbon Brief noted. The outlet attributed the decline to record additions of wind and solar in both India and China. It bears noting, however, that the surge in coal imports in December suggests that wind and solar still have a long way to go before they replace coal, if ever.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com