China is set to overtake Japan as the world's largest importer of thermal coal as soon as this year, only three years after Beijing became a net importer of the mineral used to fire power stations, according to an emerging industry consensus.
The speed at which Chinese coal imports are growing is surprising miners, traders and policymakers, who had previously not expected China to overtake Japan before 2015.
Traders and policymakers said they expected China's thermal coal net imports to hit 105m-115m tonnes this year, level with or above Japan, which is expected to buy about 110m tonnes. China was a net exporter of coal until 2007.
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