Producers and Consumers

The graph below shows recent declines in coal demand in Western Europe and the former Soviet Union as a result of the growing use of natural gas and economic decline.

As projected by the US Department of Energy, global coal consumption will continue to grow slowly over the mid-term. Global consumption is forecast to increase at an average annual rate of 1.5% until 2025, but this modest growth hides significant differences between regions and countries.
Most of the growth potential is attributed to developing countries, while consumption in industrialised countries is likely to remain almost flat. Among developing countries, China is projected to account for the largest part of the increase, with an average rate of 3.2% per annum.

The average projected growth in coal use suggests that its share in the global energy mix will continue to drop from 24% in 2001, itself down from 26% in 1990. Today industrialised and a growing number of developing countries would like to restrict the use of coal, especially in electricity generation, because of its potential harm to the atmosphere.
Improved technologies may, however, provide cost-effective ways to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. For example, the integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology may soon be commercially competitive, and could increase generating efficiencies by more than 20%.
These technologies would contribute to reducing emission levels (especially of carbon dioxide and sulphur oxides) more effectively, and could extend the use of coal significantly.

In terms of production, coal is a regional industry. The chart above shows a clear regional correlation between production and consumption.
Asia and North America, which account for almost 70% of the world's coal consumption, also produce around 70% of the world's coal.