BEIJING - A year of plenty for China's coal industry will probably mean a slump in imports, with miners in Australia likely to be the hardest hit.
The implication is that imports will have to give way. Inbound shipments of thermal coal, the type used by power stations, will shrink this year by as much 12 million tons, or about 5 per cent, Noble Group's Head of Hard Commodities Research, Rodrigo Echeverri, told the conference. Authorities have adopted stricter testing, including checks for radioactive content, Chen Bin, deputy chief engineer of China Datang Corp.'s fuel unit, said on the sidelines of the conference.