China’s Fujian Province imported a total of 4.64 million tonnes of coal in the first half of this year, valuing US$390 million, skyrocketing 99.2% and 1.3-fold from a year earlier, respectively, custom data show.

The imported coal price averaged at US$83 per tonne, rising 17 percent from a year ago, mainly bituminous from ASEAN countries.

The increased coal imports are mainly attributed to some factors including narrower price gap between Chinese and international market; climbing-up demand of coal at domestic market; extensive resources consolidations and safety inspections launched out 2008 in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan and Shaanxi provinces.

It is predicted that coal prices traded at Chinese market are likely to increase at a high pace in the future because China had become a net importer of coal in the world, and the country had to fight for coal resources with India, Japan, South Korea and other countries.