China's Shanxi province pledged to suspend construction of coal mines until 2020, Xinhua News Agency reported May 28.

The move reflects Shanxi's commitment to further slash excess capacity in the sector, the report said, citing a recent coal industry development plan published by the local government.

As of March 2016, it had 562 operating coal mines, with an annual capacity of 910 million tonnes. It aims to limit the number of its coal mines to 900 by 2020, with an average capacity of 1.8 million tonnes annually.

The province also announced plans to close 18 collieries and slash 17 million tonnes of coal production capacity this year, the report said.