China produced 2.52 billion tons of raw coal last year, up 8.2 percent from 2006, according to the China National Coal Association (CNCA).

The output of raw coal saw consecutive growth in the past five years. The output volume increased by 78.3 percent compared to that of 2002, when the volume stood at 1.42 billion tons.

The coal output of Shanxi, the country's largest coal producing province in China, reached 630.21 million tons, growing steadily by 8.39 percent over the year.

Over the past three years, the central government had arranged nine billion yuan (1.23 billion U.S. dollars) in treasury bonds to upgrade safety technologies and equipment at major state-owned coal mines in order to increase output while reducing the number of accidents.

Coal mine accidents killed 3,786 mineworkers last year, down 20.2 percent from the previous year, the second consecutive year for the country to report a 20-percent fall in mine accident fatalities.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2008)