The global coal market has a burning question, and Li Zhidong has an answer. In a National Bureau of Research report, the management professor at the Nagaoka University of Technology in Japan addresses the issue of when coal use in China, the world’s largest consumer of the black stuff, will fall. Chinese coal demand has started slowing as officials favor cleaner fuels to combat pollution. That’s sent prices down, but demand hasn’t actually declined yet. Mr. Li calculates coal use in volume terms will fall starting 2016, as heavy industry also slows. The one consolation for international miners is that their higher-quality coal releasing more energy can find buyers longer. Mr. Li expects coal use in heat content terms to peak in 2019, as Beijing discourages lower-quality coal, and as higher heat-content stuff is still used by power producers who take time to switch to alternative energy sources. Pretty […]