On April 19, 2019, the National Coal Industry Network released the country's raw coal production rankings by province and region from January to March.

The country's total coal production from January to March was more than 800 million tons, of which Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi ranked the top three in coal production from January to March. The raw coal output of these three provinces accounted for more than half of the country's total output.

This situation is inseparable from the national "13th Five-Year" development and layout of the coal industry.

In 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Coal Industry Development", which mentioned that the overall layout of coal development in the country is to compress the eastern, central and northeastern regions, and optimize the western region.

Although Inner Mongolia has a large coal production, the eastern ecological environment is fragile and water resources are scarce. The country is controlling the scale of lignite production and transporting it over long distances, mainly to meet the needs of coal used by Ximeng Coal and Electricity Base, through Ximeng-Shandong, Ximeng-Jiangsu Transmission channel to send power to North China and East China Power Grid. By 2020, the output of Mengdong (Northeast) base will be controlled at 400 million tons.

Shanxi (Jin) is also a major coal-producing province, but the bases of Jinbei, Jinzhong, and Jindong have not yet utilized resources in the middle and deep areas, coal quality has declined, and the carrying capacity of water resources and ecological environment is limited. The exhausted coal mines will be closed and withdrawn, the disposal of resources will be accelerated to integrate the coal mines, and the construction of connection mines will be properly constructed. By 2020, the output of Jinbei base will be 350 million tons, Jinzhong base 310 million tons, and Jindong base 340 million tons.

The northern Shaanxi and Shendong bases are rich in coal resources, good coal quality, shallow coal seam burial, simple geological structure, and low production cost. The state focuses on supporting the construction of large and extra large integrated coal mines. By 2020, the output of the North Shaanxi base will be 260 million tons and the Shendong base will be 900 million tons.

The state is also accelerating the closure and exit of coal mines outside large coal bases and reducing the production scale of large coal bases in Luxi, Jizhong, Henan and Lianghuai. By 2020, coal production outside large-scale coal bases will be controlled within 200 million tons.

Overall, the state strictly controls the scale of new coal. In principle, no new coal mines will be built in the eastern region. The central and northeastern regions strictly control the connection of coal mines, and the western region combines the coal needs of coal power and deep coal processing projects to build an integrated coal mine. Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang are key construction provinces (regions).