China has beaten its target to slash production of steel by 45 million tons and coal by 250 million tons respectively, the National Development and Reform Commission announced yesterday.

Over 2,600 coal mines, whose annual capacity was lower than 300,000 tons each, have been closed. Thanks to the balanced supply-demand relation, “profits of coal companies with an annual output over 200 billion yuan grew 112.8 percent from a year ago to 53.8 billion yuan (US$7.8 billion) over the first 10 months,” Xu Kunlin, deputy secretary general of the commission, said.

Meanwhile, 73 steel companies listed in the China Iron and Steel Association registered a profit of 27.8 billion yuan from January to October.

The target of cutting 45 million tons of steel was met in October, while coal reached the target yesterday, Xu said.