As we discussed in Commodore Research's most recent Weekly Executive Report, China’s coal production totaled 397.2 million tons in May. This is up month-on-month by 11.6 million tons (3%) but is down year-on-year by 6.1 million tons (-2%). Remaining very significant is that the last time there was any year-on-year growth was in June. Before this stretch, China’s coal production had grown on a year-on-year basis for thirteen straight months.
Coal-derived electricity generation totaled 472.6 billion kilowatt hours. This is up month-on-month by 8.8 billion kilowatt hours (2%) and is up year-on-year by 11.1 billion kilowatt hours (2%). Very helpful for coal import demand and the dry bulk market is that China's coal-derived electricity generation has now fared better than coal production for five straight months. Before these last five months, China's coal-derived electricity generation had fared worse than domestic coal production in three of the prior four months.
Total electricity production reached 784.3 billion kilowatt hours. This is up month-on-month by 40.3 billion kilowatt hours (5%) and is up year-on-year by 46.5 billion kilowatt hours (6%). This has marked the strongest year-on-year growth since October.
