China’s coal mining and washing industry posted a year-on-year slump of 61.6% in profit to 15.41 billion yuan ($2.52 billion) over January-April, indicating continuous deterioration in this sector, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on May 27.

During the same period, the coal mining and washing industry realized revenue of 816.71 billion yuan in core businesses, down 13.0% from a year ago.

Total profit of the country’s entire mining industry registered a drop of 60.7% year on year to 86.46 billion yuan in the first four months of the year, data showed.

Meanwhile, profit in ferrous and non-ferrous metal mining industry fell 49.6% and 21.8% on year to 11.03 billion and 12.95 billion yuan, respectively.

However, the power and heat generation industry saw its profit climb 17.5% from the year before to 149.12 billion yuan, attributed largely to the slump in coal prices.

China’s coal prices have been falling amid bleak downstream demand and an excess of supply. The Fenwei/Platts CCI1 Index for domestic 5,500 Kcal/kg NAR coal traded at Qinhuangdao port was assessed at 401 yuan/t on May 26, inclusive of VAT, FOB basis, down 20.75% or 105 yuan/t from the start of the year.