Australian thermal coal prices have fallen since the beginning of the month, pulled down by weak demand from China, and analysts said there was little hope for a rise in prices if China’s imports do not pick up. China, the world’s largest coal buyer and consumer, imported 13.54 million tonnes of coal in February, down 11.1 percent from January, figures from the General Administration of Customs of China showed this week. The ongoing demand and import slowdown in China is a result of its stalling economy, which is growing at its lowest pace in a generation, as well as structural shifts away from an industrialized to a more service-based economy alongside the government’s efforts to rein in rampant pollution. “It will be nearly impossible for coal pricing to recover appreciably in 2016 […]