BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Tuesday for increasing power supply to avoid electricity cuts this summer, state television reported.
Li, speaking during a visit to northern China’s Hebei province, encouraged companies to step up power generation and release advanced coal production capacity to secure economic activity and livelihoods, China Central Television reported.
Northern China is currently experiencing soaring summer temperatures that have increased demand for electricity for air conditioning.
Last autumn, lower domestic coal production led to a weeks-long power crunch that hit manufacturing across the world’s No.
2 economy.
Beijing has since ordered a ramp-up in coal output to record levels, and capped coal prices to ensure they are affordable for power generators.
But traders say the price cap is encouraging miners to prioritise coal quantity over quality, leaving power generators in need of growing volumes of coal as they look to raise output.
Li also surveyed wheat fields, noting that the crop, almost fully harvested, would be bigger than last year’s, according to the report.
Heavy rain last autumn had raised worries that China, the world’s largest wheat producer, would have a smaller, low quality crop this year.
But Li was reported to have said that China would have a bumper wheat harvest this year after all, which would guarantee domestic needs as well as contribute to the stability of the global food market.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Jon Boyle and Mark Heinrich)
