China is the world’s biggest consumer and producer of coal. Mongolia is on China’s border to its north. Mongolia is on the verge of significantly increasing its coal production to over 40 million metric tonnes of coal per year. This will be a quadrupling of coal production from 2008 levels. This year, Mongolia surpassed Australia as the biggest exporter of coking coal to China. But, China does not import that much of its coal yet. China began to export coal in 1981, and only became a net importer of coal in 2009. To read the full article, click here: Coal in Mongolia – the China Factor, Part I