China's coal output for this year is estimated at a record 1.6 billion tons, up 14 percent over last year's 1.4 billion tons, industry sources said Friday.

However, coal is in short supply because of rising demand, shipment costs and coal prices.

At a national reform and development conference for the coal sector, Pu Hongjiu, executive deputy president of the official Chinese Society of Coal Industry, said the output, the world's highest, had reached the goal China previously set for 2010.

Coal for power plant consumption was estimated at 826 million tons this year, nearly 100 million tons more than the previous year.

China's major coal-fired power plants sent urgent signals that they badly needed fuel to generate. Some appealed for state intervention to solve their acute coal shortage, which seriously disrupted electricity production.

A petition filed by China Huadian Group, China Huaneng Enterprise Group and five other major power producers said most power plants in central and north China faced shortage.

Coal reserves in the power plants had dropped below the warning level, and some plants had been compelled to shut down their generators, it said.

Some people attributed the power shortage to soaring coal prices, rising transportation costs, and declining coal stocks and quality, but experts said the remarkable growth of the Chinese economy was the fundamental reason for the energy shortage.

In 2003, China's economic growth rate is expected to hit 8.5 percent, which has already drawn the attention of international media.

Some argued the reform pace of China's energy system was lagging behind national economic development.

Electricity pricing was still subject to government regulation, while coal prices floated in line with market demands, said an official with China Huaneng Enterprise Group.

Thousands of small coal mines were closed for safety inspections following a series of fatal explosions across the country, but many have since resumed production.

Yan Wensheng, vice-director of the Shanxi Provincial Coal Industry Bureau, said a total of 1,838 coal mines in north China's Shanxi Province had resumed production meeting safety requirements.

All but the state-owned mines were closed after three consecutive gas blasts hit Shanxi's coal mines in August, killing dozens of miners, Yan said.

Accounting for about one third of China's coal reserves, Shanxi has 4,122 coal mines with an expected production of 400 million tons this year.

The coal mines which resumed production turn out about 70 percent of Shanxi's original output and their closure resulted in rising coal prices in Shanxi Province since September.

Pu said China's domestic demand for coal would exceed 2 billion tons by 2020 as China had entered the rising stage of a new economic cycle, which meant a rising demand for energy.

Coal had accounted for at least 70 percent of the country's energy supplies, and the ratio would remain unchanged for a long period, said the deputy president.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2003)