Chinese coal imports this year are expected at around the record levels of 2023, according to an executive at China’s state-run utility Guangdong Energy Group. China’s coal imports jumped last year by 62% to a record high of 474.42 million metric tons, driven by high demand, lower-quality domestic coal, and higher domestic prices.
China continues to rely on coal and coal-fired power generation to meet its growing power demand, and despite being the world's top investor in solar and wind capacity, it also plans a lot of new coal-fired electricity capacity. Global coal demand was set to rise by 1.4% in 2023 and surpass a record-high level of 8.5 billion tons for the first time, the International Energy Agency IEA said in an annual report in December.