Bituminous Coal Production by Country

How much bituminous coal did each country produce in 2024? This page answers that in million metric tons (Mmt) for 45 countries, 2019-2024, from the EIA. World total in 2024: 4,383.6 Mmt (versus 4,329.6 Mmt in 2023). Bituminous is the workhorse coal for power and industry, with high energy density.

The map highlights the 2024 leaders; use the table for the full history.

Bituminous Coal Production by Country

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#	Country	2024 (Mmt)
1	China CN	3,165.25
2	South Africa ZA	226.69
3	Australia AU	225.67
4	Russia RU	214.42
5	United States US	160.11
6	Kazakhstan KZ	97.19
7	Indonesia ID	91.85
8	Colombia CO	49.86
9	India IN	38.65
10	Poland PL	32.65
11	Ukraine UA	17
12	Mongolia MN	12.17
13	North Korea KP	9.52
14	Pakistan PK	9
15	Mozambique MZ	6.61
16	Zimbabwe ZW	4.44
17	Canada CA	4.32
18	Botswana BW	2.46
19	Tajikistan TJ	2.21
20	Zambia ZM	2.02
21	Tanzania TZ	1.86
22	Nigeria NG	1.26
23	Afghanistan AF	1.16
24	Ethiopia ET	1.07
25	Bangladesh BD	0.91
26	Malaysia MY	0.88
27	Türkiye TR	0.78
28	Kyrgyzstan KG	0.76
29	Czech Republic CZ	0.74
30	Japan JP	0.52
31	Venezuela VE	0.32
32	Uzbekistan UZ	0.22
33	Peru PE	0.19
34	Albania AL	0.19
35	New Zealand NZ	0.19
36	Iran IR	0.18
37	Norway NO	0.12
38	Brazil BR	0.09
39	Malawi MW	0.03
40	Chile CL	0.02
41	Nepal NP	0
42	Argentina AR	0
43	United Kingdom GB	0
44	Eswatini SZ	0
45	Lesotho LS	0

China was the largest producer at 3,165.2 Mmt (about 72 percent of world total). South Africa followed at 226.7 Mmt. Together the top three held about 83 percent, the top ten about 98 percent, with China about 14.0 times South Africa.

Who Leads Bituminous Coal Production?

The top ten producers were China (3,165.2 Mmt), South Africa (226.7 Mmt), Australia (225.7 Mmt), Russia (214.4 Mmt), the United States (160.1 Mmt), Kazakhstan (97.2 Mmt), Indonesia (91.9 Mmt), Colombia (49.9 Mmt), India (38.7 Mmt), and Poland (32.6 Mmt). The top five alone — China, South Africa, Australia, Russia and the United States — accounted for about 91.1 percent of the world total (3,992.1 Mmt of 4,383.6 Mmt), while the top three held about 82.5 percent.

What the Geography Tells Us

Bituminous coal is not evenly spread. Asia accounts for the largest volumes, led by China and Indonesia. Russia was Europe's largest producer in the dataset, followed by Poland (32.6 Mmt) and Ukraine (17.0 Mmt), while North America is led by the United States. Smaller producers are scattered across South America, Africa and Oceania.

How Concentrated Is Production?

Production is extremely concentrated. The top three producers (China, South Africa, Australia) held about 82.5 percent of the world total in 2024. The top five held about 91.1 percent, and the top ten held about 98.1 percent. This means that the remaining 35 countries combined accounted for less than 2 percent of world bituminous coal production.

What Changed Most Recently?

In 2023-2024, the largest gains were China (+50.9 Mmt, +1.6 percent, from 3,114.4 to 3,165.2 Mmt), Australia (+14.9 Mmt) and Indonesia (+5.8 Mmt). The steepest declines were the United States (-25.8 Mmt, -13.9 percent, from 185.9 to 160.1 Mmt) and Russia (-3.4 Mmt). Overall the world total grew by 54.0 Mmt (+1.2 percent) to 4,383.6 Mmt. Notably, China alone produced more bituminous coal in 2024 (3,165.2 Mmt) than all other 44 listed countries combined (1,218.4 Mmt).

How Has Production Changed Since 2019?

Between 2019 and 2024, the trajectories diverged sharply. China rose from 2,669.8 to 3,165.2 Mmt (+18.6 percent), and Russia from 186.0 to 214.4 Mmt (+15.3 percent). South Africa was nearly flat, from 225.0 to 226.7 Mmt (+0.8 percent). In contrast, Australia fell from 244.9 to 225.7 Mmt (-7.8 percent), the United States from 242.9 to 160.1 Mmt (-34.1 percent), and Indonesia from 148.3 to 91.9 Mmt (-38.1 percent). This shows a clear shift of bituminous production toward China and Russia over the 2019-2024 period.

Bituminous Coal in Context

Bituminous coal is a dense, black coal with high energy content, typically containing 45-86 percent carbon. The EIA describes it as the workhorse coal for electricity generation, industrial processes and coke production. Unlike lignite or subbituminous coal, its high energy density makes it suitable for long-distance transport, which explains why countries like South Africa and Australia can be major exporters despite distance from demand centers.

Longer View: 2019-2024

The world total started at 4,014.0 Mmt in 2019, dipped to 3,901.1 Mmt in 2020, before reaching 4,383.6 Mmt in 2024. Production recovered after the 2020 dip, with much of the growth concentrated in Asia.

Bituminous Coal Production by Country

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#	Country	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	China	2,669.82	2,725.86	2,882.65	3,024.73	3,114.37	3,165.25
2	South Africa	224.96	223.14	212.86	225.06	225.44	226.69
3	Australia	244.86	241.98	223.28	225.44	210.77	225.67
4	Russia	186	162.37	176.52	184.15	217.84	214.42
5	United States	242.85	165.5	179.46	190.14	185.93	160.11
6	Kazakhstan	80.23	79.73	67.68	99.32	100.42	97.19
7	Indonesia	148.27	127.74	139.13	102.37	86.03	91.85
8	Colombia	78.91	45.35	51.67	48.61	43.67	49.86
9	India	20.65	21.51	27.93	32.21	36.68	38.65
10	Poland	48.54	41.23	41.53	40.47	36.43	32.65
11	Ukraine	19.75	19.84	19.58	17	16.44	17
12	Mongolia	7.84	7.28	5.43	3.29	9.54	12.17
13	North Korea	11.24	10.58	8.68	8.96	9.07	9.52
14	Pakistan	3.8	3.65	3.7	7.61	8.21	9
15	Mozambique	2.78	2.7	2.4	3.1	3.16	6.61
16	Zimbabwe	2.39	2.47	2.95	2.75	3.11	4.44
17	Canada	3.93	5.51	4.76	5.24	4.96	4.32
18	Botswana	2.04	1.83	1.94	2.58	2.06	2.46
19	Tajikistan	1.96	2.01	2.06	2	2.19	2.21
20	Zambia	0.99	1.09	1.08	0.82	2.08	2.02
21	Tanzania	0.71	0.69	0.76	2.51	2.34	1.86
22	Nigeria	2.72	2.35	2.51	3.04	1.32	1.26
23	Afghanistan	2.38	1.51	1.98	2.87	0.75	1.16
24	Ethiopia	0	0	0	0.01	0.46	1.07
25	Bangladesh	0	0	0	0.19	0.77	0.91
26	Malaysia	0	0	0	0.93	0.95	0.88
27	Türkiye	0.51	0.45	0.51	0.65	0.59	0.78
28	Kyrgyzstan	0.33	0.52	0.49	0.53	0.55	0.76
29	Czech Republic	1.4	1.12	0.68	0.82	0.85	0.74
30	Japan	0.78	0.79	0.68	0.68	0.61	0.52
31	Venezuela	0.39	0.29	0.16	0.2	0.15	0.32
32	Uzbekistan	0.18	0.26	0.25	0.27	0.34	0.22
33	Peru	0	0	0	0.04	0.18	0.19
34	Albania	0	0	0	0.2	0.26	0.19
35	New Zealand	0.09	0.02	0.07	0.09	0.2	0.19
36	Iran	0.14	0.15	0.16	0.15	0.17	0.18
37	Norway	0.12	0.07	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.12
38	Brazil	0.12	0.1	0.12	0.08	0.09	0.09
39	Malawi	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0	0.03
40	Chile	0.77	0.48	0.04	0.02	0.12	0.02
41	Nepal	0	0	0	0	0.01	0
42	Argentina	0.02	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.02	0
43	United Kingdom	1.34	0.82	0.45	0.3	0.35	0
44	Eswatini	0.11	0.11	0.12	0.09	0	0
45	Lesotho	0	0	0	0	0.05	0

Methodology

Data: EIA International Energy Statistics, bituminous coal in Mmt per year (INTL.12-1 series for 2024). Empty cells = no reported value; 0 = reported zero. Sums of countries may not match the reported world total exactly due to rounding; world total is shown as reported.