Data released this week shows that China’s electricity production in November totaled 666.7 billion kilowatt hours.  This is up month-on-month by 5.7 billion kilowatt hours (1%) and is up year-on-year by 12.7 billion kilowatt hours (2%).  Also of note is that industrial production grew year-on-year by 2.2%, and crude steel output grew year-on-year by 7.3%.

Hydropower output totaled 77.9 billion kilowatt hours.  This is down month-on-month by 21.5 billion kilowatt hours (-22%) and is down year-on-year by 12.2 billion kilowatt hours (-14%).  As we have been stressing in our research, China’s hydropower output has been coming under considerable pressure due to low water inflow, and last month’s weakness has again come as no surprise.

Thermal coal-derived electricity generation totaled 475.4 billion kilowatt hours.  This is up month-on-month by 30.1 billion kilowatt hours (7%) and is up year-on-year by 10.9 billion kilowatt hours (2%).  Thermal coal-derived electricity generation has now increased on a year-on-year basis during each of the last five months.

Coal production totaled 391.3 MMT.  This is up month-on-month by 21.2 MMT (6%) and is up year-on-year by 20.5 MMT (6%).  As we have continued to stress in our work, the government is no longer primarily focusing on improving safety and instead has shifted its focus to ensuring robust coal production.  Last month’s production marked the second largest amount of coal ever mined in China.