China gets the vast majority of its coal from its own mines. In 2024, Chinese mines produced 4.76 billion tons of coal, while imports added another 540 million tons. That means roughly 90% of China’s coal supply is domestic, with imports filling the remaining gap. Still, that 540 million tons made China the largest coal importer in world history by a wide margin.
The Three Provinces That Power China
China’s coal production is heavily concentrated in its north and northwest. Three provinces together account for over 70% of the country’s entire output. Shanxi, in north-central China, leads at 29% of national production, extracting more than a billion tons per year from one of the world’s oldest and most developed coalfields. Inner Mongolia, the vast region stretching along China’s northern border, is close behind at 27%, also surpassing a billion tons annually. Shaanxi, just south of Inner Mongolia, contributes 16%.
These three provinces sit far from the factories and power plants along China’s eastern coast, which creates an enormous logistics challenge. Coal moves east and south by rail, truck, and barge through a transportation network built specifically for this purpose. Huanghua Port, on the Bohai Sea coast, is China’s largest coal-handling port. It has maintained annual throughput above 200 million tons for eight consecutive years, serving as a critical transfer point where coal from inland mines gets loaded onto ships bound for coastal cities.
Beyond the big three, Xinjiang in the far northwest is a growing fourth player, accounting for about 9% of national production. But its remote location in western China makes transporting that coal to demand centers expensive, limiting its role for now.
Where Imports Come From
China’s 540 million tons of imported coal in 2024 came primarily from four countries: Indonesia, Australia, Russia, and Mongolia. Each serves a slightly different role in China’s energy supply.
Indonesia is the world’s top coal exporter, shipping 555 million tons globally in 2024, with China as its biggest customer. Indonesian coal is mostly lower-grade thermal coal used for generating electricity. It’s relatively cheap and arrives by sea to ports along China’s southern and eastern coasts.
Australia exported 363 million tons globally in 2024 and is a key supplier of higher-grade coal used in steelmaking. This trade has a complicated recent history. China imposed an unofficial ban on Australian coal in late 2020 amid a diplomatic dispute, effectively shutting Australia out of the market for over two years. The ban lifted in early 2023, and Australian coal has since flowed back into China, though the episode reminded both countries how quickly trade relationships can shift.
Russia directed 75% of its coal exports to Asia in 2024, with China as a primary destination. Russian coal reaches China both by sea and by rail across their shared border in the northeast. The shift toward Asian buyers accelerated after Western nations reduced purchases of Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine.
Mongolia is a unique case. Landlocked and sharing a long border with China, it exports virtually all of its coal to a single customer: China. In January 2024 alone, Mongolia shipped 6.6 million tons of coal southward, every ton of it to China. This coal crosses by truck and rail through border checkpoints in the Gobi Desert region, supplying steel mills and power plants in northern China.
Thermal Coal vs. Steelmaking Coal
Not all coal serves the same purpose, and the type matters for understanding China’s sourcing strategy. Lower-grade coal, often called thermal coal, gets burned in power plants to generate electricity. This is the bulk of what China produces domestically and what it buys from Indonesia. Higher-grade coal, including the type used in blast furnaces to make steel (coking coal), requires specific chemical properties that not all deposits provide. Australia is one of the world’s premier sources of this steelmaking coal, which is why China resumed Australian imports despite the political tensions.
China’s domestic mines produce both types, but the country’s steel industry is so massive that it still needs significant coking coal imports to supplement local supply.
Why China Still Imports So Much
If China mines 90% of what it needs, importing the rest might seem like a minor detail. It’s not. The 540 million tons China imported in 2024 would make it one of the largest coal-consuming nations on Earth all by itself. Several factors drive this import demand.
Geography is the biggest one. China’s coal mines sit in the north and west, but many power plants and factories cluster along the southern and eastern coasts. Shipping coal from Indonesia or Australia to a port in Guangdong can be cheaper than railing it 2,000 kilometers from Shanxi. Coastal imports essentially act as a pressure valve, keeping energy costs down in regions far from domestic mines.
Stockpiling also plays a role. China has aggressively built coal reserves in recent years to avoid the power shortages it experienced in 2021. Cheap international prices in 2024 made imports attractive for filling those reserves, pushing the total to record levels.
That trend may already be reversing. The International Energy Agency projects China’s coal imports will drop by about 58 million tons in 2025, falling to around 489 million tons, as existing stockpiles reduce the urgency to buy and domestic demand softens. Global coal trade overall is expected to decline by 5% in 2025, largely because of this single shift in Chinese purchasing.