Power consumption data can reflect situations of enterprises' production and economic operation, and thus become a key barometer of economic activity, experts said.

Its output growth rates over the past two years far exceeded that of the three leading coal-producing regions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia.

Last year, Shanxi provided 620 million tonnes of thermal coal for another 24 provincial-level regions in China, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

Exports would recover slowly because of the global economic downturn, according to the newspaper.

China's raw coal output posted stable expansion in December 2022, official data showed.

Building such terminals is also to fulfill its commitment to carbon reduction and carbon neutrality, said Chu Bin, Party chief of the Tianjin Port Group.

China launched an energy revolution pilot program in Shanxi in 2019, promoting the coal-rich province to explore energy transition.

Northeast China's Heilongjiang province saw its foreign trade in goods grow by 33 percent year-on-year to 265.15 billion yuan ($39.44 billion) in 2022, customs data showed.