China is on track to meet its target to cut coal production capacity this year - and would likely top the goal - with further reductions expected in the second half, according to a leading expert on the sector.

"By the end of April, China had cut its coal capacity by 68.97 million metric tons, meeting 46 percent of this year's target," said Wu Lixin, deputy director of the strategic planning research department at the China Coal Research Institute.

Speaking at a workshop hosted by the institute on coal industry reform in Beijing on Wednesday, Wu said that cutting overcapacity remained one of the core issues for the industry, as well as the increasing debt of coal enterprises, high tax and transportation costs, and the lack of a scientific management system to analyze and synthesize workflows to improve economic efficiency.