Coal consumption by China's four major coal-consuming sectors grew at a higher rate that the country's coal output in the first quarter, Beijing-based Dexin Yongming Consultation Co. said in a report.
The four sectors are power generation, steelmaking, cement, and fertilizer.
The four sectors consumed a total of 748.7 million mt of coal in Q1, up 6.3% year-on-year compared with coal output growth of 5.8% to 838 million mt.
In Q1, the power sector consumed 470.8 million mt of coal, up 6.7% year- on-year, the steelmaking sector 162.6 million mt, up 3.2%, the cement sector 91.6 million mt, up 7.6%, and the fertilizer sector 23.7 million mt, up 6.8%.
In March alone, China's electric power sector consumed 168.8 million mt of coal, up 6.5% year-on-year, steelmaking 56.4 million mt, up 3.8%; the cement sector 41.2 million mt, up 8.9%, the fertilizer sector consumed 7.9 million mt, down 0.7%.
Unless China's central government begins to ease its macro-economic control over the real estate industry, Helen Lau, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian, said, downstream coal demand will not grow substantially. She added that the central government seems set to slow down economic growth to avoid a hard landing.
Source: Platts