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Since the beginning of industrialization in the 19th century, coal has had a significant impact on the world's energy supply. To this day, coal remains one of the main energy sources among all non-renewable resources. The use of hard coal, the most important type of coal, has increased even slightly in recent years. Coal also has the largest reserves of all non-renewable energy sources. Global coal production has continued to increase in recent years, reaching the equivalent of nearly 168 exajoules in 2019. In 2020, global coal production will decline slightly to 159.6 exajoules. The top hard coal producing countries are China, India, the United States, Australia and Indonesia.

With the expectation that global supply will continue to rise, Newcastle coal futures dropped to $97 per tonne in March, the lowest level in over four years. Following a record-breaking 2024, top producer China said its output would increase 1.5% to 4.82 billion tons in 2025. The goal is to increase mining capacity in order to mitigate availability concerns from carbon emission limits and mine closures due to safety protocol violations. As utilities already contend with record-high coal inventories—which increased by 12% in the two months ended October—the development took place. Additionally, the country's growing investment in alternative power sources reduced the prognosis for coal demand, even though Indonesian output reached a new high of 836 million tonnes in 2024, 18% above its objective. Consequently, Glencore noted that multiple Australian coal producers, which especially impact the Newcastle grade, were considering shutting down as lower prices reduce margins.

Global coal production: 167.58EJ. Ambitious economic giants China and India continue to account for the majority of global coal consumption. About 60% of China's rapidly growing energy consumption is supported by coal. Although U.S. coal consumption has shown a slight decline over the past ten years, some projections show significant increases through the end of 2030.