BEIJING: China’s coal output rose to a six-month high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, notching the first year-on-year increase of 2024 as safety inspections that constrained production earlier in the year eased.

The world’s largest coal producer mined 405.38 million metric tons of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase on the year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The six-month high was calculated averaging out January-February production, since NBS reports the two months in a combined data release to smooth out the effects of the lunar new year holiday which falls in either month.

Average daily output also rose to the highest level since December, at 13.5 million tons.

Sliding coking coal prices put pressure on steel, iron ore

Lower production from China’s coking coal hub of Shanxi had weighed on output during March-May after the local government ordered a series of safety checks following an uptick in deadly accidents, and told miners to curb excess production. The province mined 29% of China’s coal last year.

The lower output during January-May continued to weigh on the year-on-year comparison for the first half.

Output in January-June stood at 2.27 billion tons, down 1.7% compared with the same period of last year.