China's coal industry says times are hard, outlook worse

PUBLISHED ON JUL 24, 2014 7:55 PM

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Workers at a coal terminal at Lianyungang port in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province, on June 23, 2014. More than 70 per cent of China's coal firms are making losses, the head of the coal industry association said on Thursday, July 24, 2014, with prices eroded by falling demand growth, a worsening supply glut and a war on smog. -- PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING (REUTERS) - More than 70 per cent of China's coal firms are making losses, the head of the coal industry association said on Thursday, with prices eroded by falling demand growth, a worsening supply glut and a war on smog.

Wang Xianzheng, the chairman of the China Coal Industry Association, told an industry forum that the problems facing the coal sector were expected to get worse, official news agency Xinhua reported.

Mr Wang said the problems had been piling up for the sector since the second half of 2012, with slowing consumption growth unable to absorb sustained capacity increases, especially in the face of rising imports.

He added that more than half of Chinese coal enterprises were now struggling to pay the wages of their workers.

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