China's coal imports continued the year-on-year decline for the eighth consecutive month in October 2025, also ending three straight months of sequential growth. Nearly 70% of Chinese provinces and regions saw their coal imports retreat from a year ago.

Coal imports totaled 41.74 million tonnes in October, down 9.8% from 46.25 million tonnes in the same month last year, against a 6.8% drop in September. The volume also decreased 9.3% from 46.00 million tonnes in September, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.

Eastern and southern China were still the main coal-importing areas in October. Considerable distance and high transportation costs from the two regions to major production areas of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang made it more economically viable for local power plants to import coal.

In the first ten months of 2025, the country's coal imports cumulatively amounted to 387.84 million tonnes, falling 10.9% on the year, shrinking 0.17 percentage point compared to January-September.

Fujian, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, and Hubei were the top five coal importers in October. Their cumulative coal imports were 26.31 million tonnes, rising 5.97% year on year (YoY) but falling 2.6% month on month (MoM), accounting for 63% of the total coal imports in China, far higher than 58.7% in September.

Specifically, Fujian, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, and Hubei imported 6.81 million tonnes (-24.1% YoY), 6.78 million tonnes (8.6% YoY), 6.18 million tonnes (21.2% YoY), 4.18 million tonnes (34.7% YoY) and 2.36 million tonnes (66.6% YoY) of coal, respectively, in October.

Of the top ten coal importers, five recorded year-on-year growth in October, but the number was lower than the previous month. Hubei, Shanxi, and Zhejiang registered considerable YoY hikes of 66.6%, 41.1%, and 34.7% respectively, in October.

Fujian, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shandong were the top five coal importers over the first ten months, with total coal imports at 234.47 million tonnes, accounting for 60.5% of the country's total imports, of which Fujian and Inner Mongolia took up 16% and 15.1%, respectively.

The cumulative coal imports of the above five provinces over January-October were 62.23 million (-22.0% YoY), 58.64 million (9.5% YoY), 50.99 million (-21.1% YoY), 41.71 million (3.5% YoY), and 20.90 million tonnes (12.0% YoY) respectively.

Sixteen or 66.7% of 24 Chinese provinces and regions reported year-on-year declines in coal imports in October, higher than 53.4% in October.

Tianjin, Hubei, and Shanxi were the top three provinces with a YoY gain in coal imports in the same month, jumping 203.7%, 66.6%, and 41.1%, respectively, to 969,000 tonnes, 2.36 million tonnes, and 1.63 million tonnes. Yunnan, Ningxia, and Shaanxi's coal imports fell sharply compared with the same month last year, with import volumes at 5,000 tonnes, 9,000 tonnes, and 175,000 tonnes, slumping 94.4%, 86.4%, and 86.0% YoY.

In October, Inner Mongolia imported 6.18 million tonnes of coal, up 21.2% YoY but down 12.1% MoM. Separately, Ganqimaodu border port in Inner Mongolia let in a daily average of 1,054.4 trucks of Mongolian coal in October, far lower than 1,244.6 trucks in September. The average daily customs clearance at the border port increased further to 1,354 trucks in the month to November 15.