January-June imports fell by 13pc from a year earlier to 20.84mn t.

Rail freight of coal and ore also posted robust year-on-year growth in the first half of this year in Xinjiang.

The Polish government and mining trade unions failed to agree on a plan to overhaul the country's thermal coal sector.

More than 100 officials in Gansu province were held accountable three years ago for illegal coal mining on the northern slope of the Qilian Mountains on the Gansu-Qinghai border.

They come from coal, iron ore, nickel ore and grain exporters, such as Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The sharp decline, said the Mongolian Customs General Administration, is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prices in Australia, the biggest coal supplier to South Korea, were in the red this week.

Indonesia H2 coal production outlook bearish, seaborne fundamentals weak.