The demand for coal in China will grow with little dynamic potential up to 2020, the profile association states

Almaty. February 9. Silkroadnews - During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) the demand for coal in China will grow with little dynamic potential, though the leading role of coal in China’s energy mix will not undergo a change. The forecast has been made by the deputy chairman of the China Coal Industry Association Jiang Zhimin, the Chinese Internet Information Center writes.
“Based on the macroeconomic development trends of China, during the 13th Five-Year Plan the country expects a continuous progress of the process of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and modernization of rural economy. In this regard, the domestic demand for the energy will continue to grow, while coal will keep the leading position in the energy balance of the country,” - says the publication with reference to J. Zhimin.
The coal industry in China, he believes, is restrained by a number of factors: firstly, China improves its economic structure on a continuous basis, which made the service sector to become a major source of the national economic growth; secondly, China has made great efforts to optimize the structure of energy consumption, thus, now we observe a growing share of non-fossil energy sources within the country’s energy balance.
According to Jiang Zhimin, during the 13th Five-Year Plan the coal industry is to constrain the total volume of coal production and eliminate the backward production capacity.