China Economic Net, Beijing, April 22 (Reporter Tong Mingbiao) Wang Siqiang, deputy director of the Comprehensive Department of the National Energy Administration, said at the press conference on the energy economic situation in the first quarter of 20 1 1 this morning that, on the whole, the national energy situation in the first quarter continued to improve since last year, with rapid growth in energy demand and stable prices. Wang Siqiang said that in the first quarter, the national coal and railway transportation volume was 55310.9 million tons, a year-on-year increase of10.2%; The total coal shipments in major ports were156.27 million tons, an increase of 30.5%. At the end of March, the coal inventory of seven northern ports was16.2 million tons, including 7.34 million tons of Qinhuangdao port, which increased by1640,000 tons and 390,000 tons respectively compared with the beginning of the year. In March, the national coal emergency reserve plan was approved by the State Council. The first batch of pilot coal reserves will be carried out by 10 large coal-fired power enterprises and 8 port enterprises such as Qinhuangdao Port, with a planned coal storage of about 5 million tons. Wang Siqiang said that the demand for coal in major coal consumption industries has been strong recently. Since the beginning of this year, the output of major coal-consuming industries has increased, which has stimulated the national coal consumption, especially in the low temperature weather at the beginning of the year, and the demand for electric coal has increased greatly. In the first quarter, the national crude steel and cement output increased by 8.7% and 18. 1% respectively, and the thermal power increased by 10.6%. The national key power generation enterprises consumed 322.47 million tons of coal, up 9.9% year-on-year and 3.7% quarter-on-quarter. At the end of March, the coal inventory of key power generation enterprises was about 507 1 10,000 tons, down 6.5% from the beginning of the year; Available days are 13 days, 3 days less than the end of February and 2 days less than the beginning of the year.