Sept 16 (Reuters) - Inner Mongolia, China's largest

coal-producing region, has ordered 15 mines to halt production

after they were found to have exceeded their approved output

plans, a document from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Energy Bureau showed.

China launched inspections in major coal hubs in July and

asked local authorities to report whether mines had exceeded

output in 2024 and the first half of 2025, as Beijing seeks to

tackle overcapacity in the sector.

Reuters called the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Energy

Bureau, and the person who answered confirmed the document

detailing the results of the region's production capacity

inspection and the key details.

The investigation results showed that 15 mines in Ordos

exceeded their approved capacity by more than 10% in the first

half of 2025. They have been ordered to suspend operations and

may resume only after passing inspections by regional safety

regulators, according to the document.

The document did not provide a timeline for when the

inspections will take place. The halted mines have combined

annual capacity of about 34.6 million metric tons, according to

Mysteel, a Chinese commodity consulting firm.

As of September 16, five of the 15 mines, with combined

capacity of 19.3 million tons per year, were ordered to suspend

production for five to seven days due to safety hazards. Four

mines have since resumed normal production after the

inspections, according to Mysteel.

China's most-traded coking coal futures contract on the

Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 5.84%, or 68.5 yuan ($9.63) a ton

on Tuesday.

The market rallied after state media published President Xi

Jinping's call on Monday for the "orderly exit" of outdated

production capacity and the curbing of "disorderly" price

competition.

($1 = 7.1151 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Sam Li and Colleen Howe in Beijing; Editing by

Emelia Sithole-Matarise)