TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has instructed more than 70 mines in Inner Mongolia to speed up production as the country strives to contain a severe power shortage.

On Thursday (Oct. 7), officials ordered the mines to increase their output by around 100 million tons, according to South China Morning Post. Meetings took place the same day, when provincial authorities looked at measures to keep energy levels up during the winter, state-run media in the province reported on Friday (Oct. 8).

The increase represents nearly 3% of China’s total thermal coal consumption, per reports. “This demonstrates the government is serious about raising local coal production to ease the shortage,” said a trader in Beijing, who predicts it may take at least a couple of months for the production boost to have an impact.

The news comes after reports this week that China would dip into deposits of Australian coal it had put in bonded storage. This was after Beijing unofficially banned the product from Australia last year due to bilateral tensions.

The move is seen as the latest attempt by Beijing to boost power capacity amid record-high prices and blackouts that have led to rationing across the national grid. This has, in turn, adversely affected manufacturing.