China’s coal consumption continued to decrease in the first ten months this year, according to the China National Coal Association (CNCA) on Nov 17.

Coal consumption hit 3.23 billion tons during the January-October period, down 4.7 percent year-on-year, continuing a downward trend that began last year, according to CNCA data.

Economic slowdown, rapid growth of non-fossil fuel and falling production of products that use a lot of energy were cited as influencing factors, CNCA pointed out.

Coal production fell 3.6 percent year-on-year in the first ten months and the total loss posted by coal producers surged 32.9 percent in the first three quarters this year due to falling coal prices, according to CNCA.

Coal will remain the major source of China’s energy and consumption and prices may stabilize in the latter half of 2016, CNCA added.