It turns out Chinese coal producers are hurting too.
Just like Australian producers, Chinese miners have been struggling with a supply glut, a slowdown in major downstream sectors and Chinese government attempts to reduce pollution that have encouraged the use of cleaner burning fuels.
China produced 309 million tonnes of coal in August, down 2.6% from the same time last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The bureau said coal production for the first eight months of the year was 2.41 billion tonnes, down 4.8% on the same period last year, the Economic Times reported.
Coking coal production fell 6.6% in August to 37.35Mt with year to date output at 301.5 Mt, down 4.2%.
China’s coal prices have fallen more than 20% since the beginning of the year.