HAS CHINA GOT A COAL PROBLEM?

This has nothing to do with emissions (the Chinese are using the ESG bullshit to laugh at their enemies causing their own demise. I assure you, they don’t care). Rather, it’s China’s dependency on coal as some 64% of their electricity comes from coal.

China produces (from domestic sources) about 85% of the coal it consumes (granted, this includes both coking and thermal coal).

With respect to coal, China has two big problems, and few appreciate the magnitude of the problems.

Firstly, China only has 35 years of coal reserves at today’s consumption levels, and secondly, the grade of those reserves is deteriorating. In other words, it is taking more coal to produce the same amount of heat.

Keep in mind our discussion last week where China wants to increase coal-fired power stations by 20-30% over the next 10 years (something like that). So where is all this coal going to come from if the volume and quality of China’s reserves are deteriorating?