NDRC: China's coal supply-demand balanced this year

China's coal supply and demand will continuously maintain balance in general this year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

NDRC said in a report, Coal Industry Operation Analysis in H1 and Prediction in H2, that the country's coal output increased 10.1 percent to 1.26 billion tons in the first half of 2007, driven by the rapid expansion of domestic investment and railway transportation.

In comparison with 12.2 percent increase in coal consumption in the first half of the year, the country's 10.1 percent growth of railway transportation is still lower than the demand for coal, which has restricted China's coal supply to some extent.

NDRC predicted that China's coal supply is expected to exceed the demand in two years after more new coal mines going into production and the implementation of government's policy to limit high energy consumption industries,

However, weak railway transportation capacity is still a bottleneck to limit coal supply in some areas, according to NDRC.