According to forecast made by China’s ministry of land and resources, China is aiming to increase its coal production by about 30% by 2015 to meet its energy needs.
Mr Hu Cunzhi chief planner of the ministry said that the country plans to increase annual output to more than 3.3 billion tonnes by 2015.
According to the ministry, the output planning, approved by the State Council is up from the 2.54 billion tonnes in produced 2007. While production is expected to lag demand growth, the planners forecast China"s coal consumption to surpass 3.5 billion tonnes by 2020.
China will further increase efforts on coal exploration, and plan to raise coal reserves by 210-250 billion tonnes in 2008-2010, and 500 billion tonnes in 2011-2015.
According to statistics, China identified 286.2 billion tonnes of coal resources in the period from 2001 to 2007.