PARIS, December 18. /TASS/. Global coal demand, mainly in the energy area, reached a new all-time high in 2024, with China and India being the largest consumers, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported.
"Global coal demand is expected to grow by 1% in 2024 to an all-time high of 8.77 billion tons (Bt). <…> Although industrial consumption also increased over that period, the power sector has been the main driver of coal demand growth, with electricity generation from coal set to reach an all-time high of 10 700 terawatt-hours in 2024," the report said.
As in previous years, China is the main coal consumer, the agency said, adding that coal demand in China is expected to grow by 1% in 2024 to reach 4.9 Bt. "China has maintained the focus on diversifying its power sources, continuing to build out nuclear plants and accelerating its massive expansion of solar PV and wind capacity. The country’s hydro sector also experienced a rebound after several years of underperformance. However, electricity demand in China is increasing strongly, growing at a faster rate on average than GDP since 2021. Two major drivers are underpinning power demand growth in China: the electrification of services previously provided by other fuels, such as mobility and industrial heat, and emerging industries such as data centers and AI," the report said.
India is poised to see demand growth of over 5% to 1.3 Bt, remaining the second-largest coal consumer. In the EU and the US, coal demand continues to fall, but at a significantly slower pace, the agency said. Coal demand is on track to decline by 12% and 5% to 312 mln tons and 368 mln tons, respectively, this year, the IEA added. "Global coal demand is set to plateau in the next three years, reaching around 8.87 billion tons by 2027. Given the slow progress of deploying carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies in the sector, carbon dioxide emissions from coal are not expected to decline in that period, based on today’s policy settings and market trends," according to the report. Weather variations are increasingly defining short-term trends, the agency noted.
Global coal production is also expected to hit a fresh all-time high in 2024, surpassing 9 bln tons for the first time ever. China, India and Indonesia are projected to become the biggest producers. Moreover, this year is going to see a record volume of international trade in coal, which will reach 1.55 bln tons with prices exceeding the average level of 2017-2029 by 50%.