On a statement made Friday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has announced new coal policies. The new policies allows inefficient coal plants to receive incentives from the government to increase their capacity if they agree to shut down inefficient and pollutant mines and adhere to certain standards. The initiative is the last of a long line of measures the Chinese government has adopted to stabilise the coal prices, and aims to foster closer ties among coal mines, coal-related businesses and power utilities. With this decision, the country aims to close down all mines whose capacity is below 90.000 tonnes. Experts expect more than 1000 coal mines with a capacity around 150 billion tonnes to be closed down in 2018. – Reuters