China will enforce a strict limit on total coal consumption and continue to cut production, said a senior energy official on Wednesday.

Li Haofeng, deputy director of the coal office of the National Energy Administration, made the remarks at an international coal summit. He said that measures would be needed to ensure the sustainable development of the coal industry.

To this end, he said, China will promote the clean, efficient use of coal by deploying some of the world's most advanced processes to support industrial upgrading.

China will step up coal market reform and strengthen cooperation with other countries that are huge producers and users of the fossil fuel.

China is expected to reduce the ratio of coal in primary energy consumption from 66 percent this year to around 50 percent by 2050, according to the National Coal Association.

In the first three quarters of this year, China produced 2.72 billion tons of coal, down 4.62 percent year-on-year, according to data provided by the China Coal Transportation and Sale Society.

Prices of coal have been declining as the economy slows and demand contracts. Prices of thermal coal, which is used in power plants, are down more than 20 percent from a year ago, data from industry portal cqcoal.com showed.

Power plants are a major consumer of coal in China, but their demand has been falling due to weak demand for electricity amid a slowing economy. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on October 20 showed that coal-fired plants' electricity output dropped 2.2 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year.

Many coal producers, meanwhile, have reported shrinking profits or even losses. Leading  producer China Shenhua Energy Co said Saturday that its net profit in the first three quarters dived 44.1 percent year-on-year to 16.6 billion yuan ($2.6 billion), according to a filing on the Shanghai bourse.