China's top coal producer Q3 profits down

China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, China's largest coal producer, said Saturday that net profits had dropped 18.5 percent year-on-year in Q3 to 8.09 billion yuan (1.3 billion US dollars).

Revenue in the quarter was 61.2 billion yuan, down 13.8 percent year-on-year, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

For the first three quarters, China Shenhua posted a net profit of 29.6 billion yuan, down 13.7 percent from a year earlier, compared with a decrease of 11.7 percent recorded in the first half of this year. Business revenues fell 4.6 percent to 190 billion yuan in the first three quarters.

China Shenhua attributed the decline to falling prices, production and power business, along with increased material trading.

China Shenhua produced 234 million tonnes of coal in the first three quarters, down 1.2 percent and sold 341.3 million tonnes, down 6.8 percent.

China Shenhua is listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong and apart from coal, its businesses includes power generation and shipping coal products.

In the first nine months, Shenhua plants generated 160 billion kWh of electricity, down 5.3 percent year-on-year.

An imposed cut to prices of coal-fired electricity from Sept. 1 is expected to reduce Shenhua's 2014 total profit by 610 million yuan.