China’s coal production averaged 367.1 million tons in January/February. This marks a decline of 35.6 million tons (-9%) from December's record production but is up year-on-year by 23.8 million tons (7%). As we have been stressing in our work, the government last year shifted its focus to ensuring robust coal production rather than focusing on mine safety. This led to a very significant change, and coal production now routinely fares better than coal-derived electricity generation. This was not always the case.
China's electricity production averaged 674.9 billion kilowatt hours. This marks a decline of 83 billion kilowatt hours (-11%) from December but is up year-on-year by 17.7 billion kilowatt hours (3%). Overall, it is normal for both coal and electricity production to decline on a month-on-month basis at the start of every year in China. Year-on-year growth metrics remain more significant for analyzing how these markets are faring.
Coal-derived electricity generation averaged 487.9 billion kilowatt hours. This marks a decline of 67 billion kilowatt hours (-12%) from December and is down year-on-year by 5.1 billion kilowatt hours (-1%). Coal-derived electricity generation has fared worse than coal production during fourteen of the last sixteen months.
Hydropower production averaged 68.4 billion kilowatt hours. This marks a decline of 6.3 billion kilowatt hours (-9%) from December and is down year-on-year by 1.6 billion kilowatt hours (-2%).
