Yanzhou Coal plans job cuts at Australian units

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co, China's fourth-largest producer of the fuel, plans to cut about 400 jobs at its two Australian units to save costs amid weak coal prices.

The units employ about 3,000, mostly Australian, workers, Zhang Baocai, a company spokesman, said on Wednesday. Yanzhou Coal reported a first-half net loss of 2.07 billion yuan ($338 million) after coal prices in China, the world's biggest market for the fuel, dropped to a four-year low.

The job cuts were reported earlier on Wednesday by Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, citing Chief Financial Officer Wu Yuxiang.

Wu also that said all of the company's temporary workers in China would be laid off, the paper reported.