Kazakhstan ranked 13th among the world's largest mineral fuel producers in 2024, producing 224.2 million metric tons, according to data from the Austrian Ministry of Finance, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports, citing Visual Capitalist. The ranking covers steam coal, coking coal, lignite, petroleum, oil shale, natural gas and uranium.
China topped the ranking with 4.81 billion metric tons of mineral fuels in 2024, accounting for 28.6% of global output. The country produced more than twice as much mineral fuel by weight as the United States, which ranked second with 2.28 billion metric tons, or 13.5% of the global total.
Russia ranked third with 1.46 billion metric tons, followed by India with 1.14 billion and Indonesia with 921.4 million metric tons. Together, China, the United States, Russia, India and Indonesia accounted for 63.1% of global mineral fuel production in 2024. China alone produced nearly three of every 10 metric tons of mineral fuels worldwide.
The production mix varies considerably among the leading countries. Steam coal and coking coal dominate China's output, while petroleum and natural gas account for most of the mineral fuels produced in the United States and Russia. India and Indonesia are also heavily dependent on coal production in terms of physical output.
Steam coal accounted for 973.9 million metric tons of India's production and 829.6 million metric tons of Indonesia's output in 2024. Kazakhstan's 224.2 million metric tons placed it between Iraq, which ranked 12th with 225.2 million metric tons, and Qatar, which ranked 14th with 211.8 million metric tons.
Kazakhstan's output was equivalent to 1.3% of global mineral fuel production. The Asia-Pacific region was the world's largest producer of mineral fuels in 2024, accounting for 8.36 billion metric tons, or 49.7% of global output. North America ranked second with 2.91 billion metric tons, representing 17.3% of the total.
The Middle East accounted for 12.9%, while Europe contributed 12.5%. The data comes from World Mining Data, an annual publication covering mineral production in 168 countries. The figures are collected through questionnaires sent to national committees of the World Mining Congress and other organizations, alongside official mining statistics and data from sources including the British Geological Survey and the US Geological Survey.
The ranking differs from lists based on individual commodities such as crude oil because it combines several types of mineral fuels and measures them by weight.