BEIJING: China’s coal output rose 2.8% in August from a year earlier, statistics bureau data showed on Saturday, on higher thermal power generation and robust chemical industry demand.

The world’s largest coal producer mined 396.55 million metric tons of the fuel last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics data on Saturday. That was also up from July’s 390.37 million tons.

July was the hottest month on record for China, and the heat waves continued into August, driving up power demand as homes and businesses turned on their air conditioning.

Along with moderating hydropower output, that pushed China’s thermal power generation back to growth last month. Thermal power generation, which is mostly from coal in China, rose 3.7% from a year ago to 614.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh).

China’s coal output up 2.8% in July despite surging hydropower generation

Hydropower output rose 10.7%, compared with July’s 36.2% growth.

In addition to the power sector, demand from the coal-to-chemicals industry is robust according to analysts.

Limited by safety inspections earlier in the year, output for the period from January to August fell 0.3% from the year earlier to 3.05 billion tons, the statistics bureau data showed.