BEIJING — China’s raw coal output registered stable growth in 2018 amid government efforts to cut outdated capacity and encourage high-quality capacity, official data showed on Jan 21.

China produced 3.55 billion tons of raw coal last year, up 5.2 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

The growth pace was 2 percentage points faster than that in 2017, the NBS said.

In December, China’s raw coal output totalled 320 million tons, up 2.1 percent year-on-year.