Global coal production capacity is expected to increase slightly by 0.5%

Global data revealed that due to the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, global coal production is expected to grow by only 0.5% in 2020, from 8.13 billion tons in 2019 to 8.17 billion tons in 2020. In the first two months of 2020, coal production disruption is the most serious in China. Coal production fell by about 6%, mainly because of the Lunar New Year holiday and traffic control blockade, which prevented workers from returning to the mine. As of February 14, only 57% of China's coal mines were in operation. However, by March 4, 83% of China's coal mining capacity has been put into operation, and production is now expected to resume for the rest of 2020, with a decline of only 1.2% expected by the end of the year. Globally, power coal production is expected to grow by 0.5% to 7.05 billion tons in 2020, while metallurgical coal production is expected to reach 1.1 billion tons, the same as last year. In the next four years, due to the increased demand of India and China, the power coal production is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 1.9%, reaching 7.6 billion tons by 2023. "Globally, coal production is only expected to be slightly affected by the coronavirus epidemic compared to other commodities, as hot coal is allowed to operate during the blockade to secure electricity supply when deemed essential," said vinneth Bajaj, senior mining analyst at GlobalData.