The Medium-Term Coal Market Report-2013 provides IEA forecasts on coal markets for the coming five years as well as an in-depth analysis of recent developments in global coal demand, supply and trade. This third annual report shows that while coal continues to be a growing source of primary energy worldwide, its future is increasingly tied to developments in non-OECD countries, led by China.

Coal is both the leading fuel source behind the growth of non-OECD countries and the leading source of power generation in OECD countries. Yet the current low prices for coal add a new challenge to the sector, which is facing uncertainty due to increasing environmental legislation and competition from other fuels, like US shale gas or European renewables.

This report examines, among other things, how coal producers will be affected by such low prices, whether the current low prices will boost the fuel’s consumption, if other developing countries will follow in China’s footsteps by increasingly relying on coal to fuel economic growth, and, above all, whether the strong growth of coal in China will continue between now and 2018.