M. Garside
Research lead covering energy, chemicals & resources
Global coal mining industry - statistics & facts
Since the beginning of industrialization in the 19th century, coal has had a significant impact on the world’s energy supply. To this day, despite widespread calls to transition to clean energy sources, coal remains the world’s second largest primary energy source, accounting for the world’s second largest share of primary energy consumption in 2023, at over 164 exajoules.
To feed the sustained demand, the global coal mining industry has increased annual production on a nearly continuous basis since 2000. Coal also has by far the largest reserves out of all the non-renewable energy resources.
The world’s largest coal mining company based on production volume is the Indian state-controlled Coal India Limited, which produced nearly 774 million metric tons of coal in the fiscal year 2024. The miner was established in 1975 and ranks among the largest 10 polluters in the world. China Shenhua Energy is the world's second largest coal mining company based on production, with production having amounted to almost 325 million metric tons in 2023.
Global coal production: leading countries and companies
As of 2024, the market size of the global coal mining industry amounted to 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Overall, there were more than 8,000 coal mining businesses in the world which employed some seven million people at that time. The global production volume of coal has been steadily rising in recent years and reached a record 179 exajoules in 2023. China, India, Indonesia, the United States, and Australia were the world's leading hard coal producing countries at that time. China’s hard coal production alone amounted to nearly 4.2 billion metric tons in 2022, while India’s production, at less than 900 million metric tons, came in a distant second place. Despite being the fourth largest coal producing nation, the U.S. is home to the world’s largest coal mine, the Black Thunder Mine in Wyoming. Owned by Arch Resources, Black Thunder Mine produced almost 63 million metric tons of coal in 2023.The world’s largest coal mining company based on production volume is the Indian state-controlled Coal India Limited, which produced nearly 774 million metric tons of coal in the fiscal year 2024. The miner was established in 1975 and ranks among the largest 10 polluters in the world. China Shenhua Energy is the world's second largest coal mining company based on production, with production having amounted to almost 325 million metric tons in 2023.
Coal demand worldwide
In addition to being the world’s two largest coal producers, the ambitious economic giants China and India continue to be responsible for the majority of global coal consumption. More than half of China’s rapidly growing energy consumption is supported by coal. Although U.S. coal consumption has shown a slight decrease in the last ten years, some projections predict a significant increase until as late as 2030.
