Ann: 2021 First Half Financial Result Announcement, page-52

This article to be reproduced from 'The Times' (London UK) in tomorrow's 'The Oz' may be a bit repetitious but might have some statistics that haven't been in this thread:

"Chinese coalmines have been ordered to increase production by tens of millions of tonnes before the end of the year as President Xi Jinping prioritises a power crisis over reducing Beijing’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Unrest is growing over a crippling power shortage that has prompted state-owned energy firms to limit supplies to millions of homes and businesses. The price of coal has surged to record highs as Shanxi, a mining region that accounts for about a third of the country’s coal, was hit by flooding.

The increased production at mines is likely to mean that China fails to meet its target of using coal for only 56 per cent of its energy needs. Last year coal accounted for 56.8 per cent of usage.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang convened a meeting last week of the National Energy Commission, telling suppliers that they must keep people warm during winter.

He indicated that reducing consumption and meeting climate change targets would have to “take into account the recent gaps in the supply and demand of electricity and coal”.

The power shortage and rationing of electricity has caused factories to halt assembly lines in the manufacturing hubs of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces. In response, the energy bureau of Inner Mongolia, a coal-producing region in the country’s north, said it would allow 72 coalmines to increase their output by 98 million tonnes a year.

In Shanxi, the authorities have ordered 51 mines to produce an extra 21 million tonnes this year. Another 98 mines in the province will boost production capacities by another eight million tonnes, according to Jiemian News.

In the southwestern province of Yunnan, 119 mines will add another 64 million tonnes to capacity.

According to the Financial Times, China imported 32.9 million tonnes of coal last month, 76 per cent more than it did during the same month last year.

Further complicating access to coal supplies has been a trade war with Australia, with Beijing blocking imports last year after Canberra called for an investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

Despite this week’s decision to boost production, China had made some progress in reducing coal use. In 2019 the country shut down more than 450 “outdated” mines. This year the authorities have approved three coalmine projects, down from last year’s 23..."