China Coal Group H1 sales jump 19 pct on year
SHANGHAI, July 3 (Reuters) - China National Coal Group Corp, or China Coal, posted a 19 percent climb in coal sales in the first half from a year earlier to 52 million tonnes.
Coal output at China's second-largest coal producer, after China Shenhua Energy Co (601088.SS) (1088.HK), rose 14 percent from a year earlier to 57 million tonnes, it said on its website www.chinacoal.com.
Domestic sales in the first half jumped 27 percent to 43 million tonnes. The group also exported 9 million tonnes of coal.
China has been struggling to provide enough thermal coal to its power plants, especially since the arrival of the summer's peak electricity consumption season.
Coal prices have been soaring this year in China, with the benchmark spot price for 5,800 kcal/kg grade at Qinhuangdao, the country's top coal shipping port, hitting a record of 990 to 1,000 yuan ($144.50-145.90) per tonne on Thursday.
China Coal also said its revenue in the first half jumped 51 percent on the year, with gross profit up 75 percent at 5.7 billion yuan.
Shares in the group's Hong Kong-listed arm, China Coal Energy Co (1898.HK), fell 6.7 percent on Thursday morning to HK$12.50, compared with a 1.5 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI. ($1=6.853 Yuan) (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
