China's domestic coal plan could buoy us exports

摘要

With the glut of cheap natural gas and looming environmental regulations squeezing US coal producers, the industry has been looking to export its product to offset declining domestic demand. And the sector's eyes could increasingly be trained on China, which was already the second-largest coal export market for US producers in 2012. A recent Chinese government report suggested that China should mine and burn less of its own coal, which is expensive to transport across the sprawling country, and instead import more to satisfy electricity demand in its most populous provinces.