Though China still saw net coal import of 0.6 million tons in the first nine months of this year, the import growth is expected to slow down after sharp rises of international coal prices caused by such factors as surges of crude oil price and international ocean freight.
China's southeast coastal coal consumers used to prefer import to domestic purchase as the coal import cost was lower than that for purchase from the country's coal-rich northern areas due to sharp rises of domestic coal production and logistics costs. However, the situation has by now changed after strong rises of international coal prices.

Chinese customs statistics also show that China's coal export was declining, down 17.6 percent year on year to 43.26 million tons in the first ten months of this year.

Meanwhile, statistics released by Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that China's raw coal price in October rose 0.3 percent from September and 12.39 percent from a year earlier to average at 508.17 yuan per ton. The ministry predicts raw coal price to edge up further in the rest of 2007.