MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - China’s largest coal port located in Qinhuangdao is projected to hit record highs of coal and ore shipments by 2017, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
“Qinhuangdao port’s coal business will keep rising together with China’s coal consumption, a trend that may last for at least the next 20 years,” Xing Luzhen, the chairman of Qinhuangdao Port Co. said, Bloomberg reported.
Coal shipments from the port are predicted to rise by 20 million to 30 million metric tons by 2017, Xing confirmed on August 14, according to Bloomberg.
Qinhuangdao will benefit from having stable contracts of as long as 10 years accounting for some 70 percent of shipments, including long-term customers such as Shenhua Group, China National Coal Group, China Datang Corp. and China Guodian Corp., Xing was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Qinhuangdao’s port is the delivery point for about 40 percent China’s seaborne coal.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), China is the largest producer and consumer of coal, accounting for 46 percent of global coal production and 49 percent of global coal consumption, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined. Data from the National Energy Administration revealed China depends on coal for 66 percent of its energy, Bloomberg reported.
Chinese coal production totaled 3.66 billion tons at the end of 2012, accounting for almost half the global production total, while production rates from Europe and the US amounted to some 1 billion tons. China has accounted for 69 percent of the 3.2 billion ton increase in global coal production over the past 10 years, EIA reported.
