China's raw coal output registered a 3.7% decline year on year in July, the third straight month with the growth rate being negative, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on August 14.
In July, the total coal output nationwide hit 317.94 million tonnes, which was still 4.89% lower than June, data showed.
The daily volume was calculated at 10.26 million tonnes last month, down 0.88 million tonnes from June.
The July's figure was against earlier expectations that coal output would have a notable increase in July amid the call of ensuring sufficient coal supply by the state planner National Development and Reform Commission.
While breakdown by province hasn't yet been published as of the time of writing, the national output is likely dragged down by Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi provinces.
Coal sales quotas have been tight throughout the month in Inner Mongolia, the top coal production area in the country, as the local government is investigating corruption in the coal sector for the past 20 years and clamping down on overproduction.
In Shaanxi, safety scrutiny is harsher. The local watchdogs since July have carried out several scaled secret raids on mines. Some mines with safety problems or loopholes stopped operation to right their wrongs.
"There's still some growth room for coal output in the second half of the year," said Zhang Hong, a senior official of the China National Coal Association.
Data from China Coal Transport and Distribution Association showed a total of 80 million tonnes per annum of coal capacity was put into operation in the first half.
With more advanced capacity to be released at a faster pace, the output for 2020 could continue to rise, possibly exceeding 3.9 billion tonnes, compared with 3.75 billion tonnes in 2019.
From January to July, China's coal production totaled 2.12 million tonnes, down 0.1% from the same period last year.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Jessie Jia)
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