China Shenhua sees first profit in four years

China’s largest coal producer China Shenhua Energy rose as much as 20% after reporting its first annual profit growth since 2012 as the price of coal rebounded last year following government output cuts. Net profit for the 12 months to December rose 41.1% to Rmb24.9bn ($3.6bn), from Rmb17.6bn in 2015, the company said. The company expects increase in net profit for January to March 2017 to reach or exceed 50%. China’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission plans to cut 150m tonnes of coal mining capacity this year, according to the Financial Times. It said it would leave the timing and size of the cuts to local governments as long as prices remain stable, however, the body did not give specify price targets. China Shenhua said the sales volume of coal rose 6.6% to 394.9m tonnes in 2016.