China's thermal total coal import in 2017 is expected to surge by about 30 million mt over that 

in 2016, on the back increasing power generation, according to Noble Group. 

"The  fundamentals  in the coal market changed last year," Rodrigo Echeverri, head of Noble 

Group's energy coal analysis, said at the Coaltrans Conference in Shanghai on Monday. 

He  said  that  there  has  been  a demand shock in the thermal coal market without a supply 

response, which  has  helped support the prices. China's thermal coal import during the first 

quarter of 2017 was about 12 million mt more than Q1 2016's imports, Echeverri said. 

He  pointed  out  that  China's  thermal power generation in Q1 2017 increased 7% over Q1 

2016's, while output of coal increased by only about 4%. 

"Import  of  coal  is  very important for  power producers and cement manufacturers in South 

China  and  they  don't  have  a  ceiling on imports," said Hu Bo, deputy general manager at 

Beijing Datang Fuels Co. The seaborne market is going to see more low-calorific-value coal 

being  moved, which  is  expected  to  grow  to 1.1 billion mt by 2030, according to Cameron 

Tough, head of International Marketing at Adaro Indonesia. 

Most  of  the  market  participants  at the Coaltrans Conference were of the opinion that the 

coal sector was not a sunset industry. 

"We need development  to burn coal more efficiently and reduce emissions. This will be the 

green revolution for coal," said Mao Zhongsheng, chairman of China's Shenhua Energy Co. 

Ltd.,adding that fossil fuels would continue to play an important part in the energy-mix. "The

Asia  Pacific  region  has  the  biggest  scope  for  growth  in  energy consumption," he said, 

mentioning  that additional uses of coal are also being invented, with liquefaction being one 

of them.