China's Coal Imports Climb
Radio Free Asia
An analysis by Michael Lelyveld
2012-12-31
Great summary article
2012-12-31
Great summary article
Philip Andrews-Speed, principal fellow in the East Asia program at the National University of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute
Coal accounts for more than half of China's rail tonnage, but bottlenecks in the system have forced more coal onto waterways and crowded roads, the IEA said.
Under the five-year plan, rail transport of coal is expected to reach 2.6 billion tons by 2015. Some 60 percent of the traffic would come from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces and Inner Mongolia to coastal centers, the northeast and the south.
Despite increases in rail and domestic transport to coastal ports, imports are still expected for eastern and southern provinces including Jilin, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the report indicated.
Wang Zhanjun, head of the coal association, said at an industry meeting in Shanxi on Dec. 22 that imports are set to continue at "high levels" in 2013, Xinhua reported.