Apologies, hadn't read back that far.
China is currently a net importer of coal but the Overview this recent piece from the IEA mostly refers to import declines:
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyCoalTrends.pdf
The China thermal coal futures have been ripping up all year:
https://www.quandl.com/data/ZCE/ZCF2017-Thermal-Coal-ZC-Futures-January-2017-ZCF2017
If the data on the deferred contracts is accurate, the curve is in backwardation, but I assume there's seasonality effects at play.
An industry insider last week commented that he expected thermal coal imports may drop 12% next year. Those imports were up 36% year-on-year to September, but now the supply shortfall is narrowing.
The State has spoken:
"The recent coal price surge in China was irrational and unsustainable, an official said on October 31, predicting that prices will retreat as supplies increase. There is no basis for further rises in coal prices, as supplies, freight volume and inventories have all rebounded.
Coal stocks at five major ports in north China's Bohai Rim region have risen 47.5% from the lows of previous weeks to 15 million tonnes, while inventories at major power plants have increased 35.4% to 65 million tonnes, he said. Despite recovering supplies, coal prices are still climbing, showing that prices are out of line with fundamentals and that speculation is playing a role, the official pointed, attributing the price increases to a government campaign to cut ineffective production and the onset of winter. According to the NDRC official, as more efficient producers fully extend their capacity and distributors put inventories on sale, supplies will further increase in winter and prices will fall"
Still tight enough that a colder than anticipated winter might be short-term bullish for US coal producers.