BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s April coal production jumped 11% over the previous year. This was due to Beijing’s decision to boost supply in order to secure the country’s energy supplies. However, the output fell from a March record.

However, the demand outlook isn’t very good right now.

China was the largest coal producer in the world, producing 362.8 million tonnes of it last month. This is equivalent to 12.09 millions tonnes per day, according to the National Bureau of Statistics data.

This compares to the March record of 12.77million tonnes per hour and 10.74million tonnes per hour a year ago.

The bureau data revealed that 1.45 Billion tonnes of production was achieved in January to April, which is 11% more than the previous year.

China aims to increase daily coal production above 12.6 Million tonnes, and build a national stock of 620,000,000 tonnes in order to have enough supply.

In order to ensure that supply is secure, the government has also asked regions that heavily rely on imported coal for more long-term contracts with domestic coal producers.

China’s central bank stated that it had approved 100 billion yuan (or $14.7 billion) in additional loans for coal storage, production and purchase of power plants.

Beijing set prices caps for coal thermal under spot trade, and has entered into term contracts with the aim of easing inflation pressures.

Lean demand from the downstream sector, after a variety of plant shut downs due to COVID-19 epidemics, may limit further coal production growth.

China’s April power production plunged to levels last seen in May 2020. The thermal output dropped 12% over the previous year.

China Coal Transportation and Distribution reported that the coal inventory at eight utilities in China’s coastal areas reached 29.66 Million tonnes on May 7, which was 25% higher than it was last year.

($1 = 6.7928 renminbi)