Shaanxi, the third largest coal producer in China, will cut or even remove charges on coal transported on expressways for three months as part of the measures to help the struggling coal sector.<br /> <br /> Lou Qinjian, the governor of Shaanxi, announced during an executive meeting on July 14 that the government would start a trial of the new measure in the second half of this year, without giving further details on the extent of reduction or the exact date of implementation.<br /> <br /> At present, Shaanxi charges 0.08 yuan/t.km for coal trucks with 30 tonnes or below, 0.24 yuan/t.km for those above 30 tonnes but below 55 tonnes, and 0.80 yuan/t.km for those above 55 tonnes.<br /> <br /> However, the reduction of expressway charges may not help the province’s coal industry much, since the majority of the coal trucks usually take non-toll highways instead of expressways, industry insiders pointed out.<br /> <br /> <p> Impacted by weak demand and falling prices, Shaanxi produced a total of 211.32 million tonnes of coal in the first half of 2014, down 5.54% from the year earlier, while sales of coal also decreased 4.55% to 202.81 million tonnes from the year-ago level during the same period. </p> <p style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/upfiles/news/image/20140718/20140718174200_0791.jpg" alt="" /> </p>