BEIJING: China's coal production slowed in April to the lowest level since July 2020, curbed by ongoing safety inspections at major coal mines following several accidents across the country.

China churned out 322.22 million tonnes of coal last month, down 1.8% from the same period a year ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

Output over the first four months of the year reached 1.29 billion tonnes, up 11.1% on year. Physical thermal coal prices had soared by 20% over the month to May 10, prompting at least three leading Chinese coal pricing indexes to suspend daily price assessments to try to stabilise the market.