Vigorously promoting a greener economy, Shanxi, the coal-rich province, cut 27.45 million tonnes of coal production capacity and saw a GDP growth higher than the country's average level in 2019.

India has set up a project monitoring unit to speed up the development of coal mines and raise domestic output, as part of its broader aim to cut imports.

The previous record of 18 days, 6 hours and 10 minutes, set in June last year, was broken at 6:10 am on Tuesday.

The foreign trade of Northern China's Shanxi province fell slightly by 0.2 percent to 26.45 billion yuan ($3.74 billion) in the first quarter (Q1) this year, local authorities said.

As a province that used to rely heavily on coal mining, Shanxi in North China is now diversifying its economy through industrial reform.

Most cities in the three Chinese regions with the worst air quality beat their air pollution control targets from October to March, in sharp contrast with their poor performance in the previous heating supply season.

China's major coal producer Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., Ltd. said Thursday that its net profit saw a 9.6 percent rise in 2019.

The seaborne thermal coal market is oversupplied by around 40mn t and a demand-supply imbalance could persist for much of this year as the Covid-19 pandemic dents economic activity.