BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- China's coal output this year is to exceed 2 billion tons, Vice President Pu Hongjiu of the China Coal Industry Association was quoted by the Economic Daily as saying at the second meeting of the Sino-Australian Coal Summit.

    Compared with coal production of almost 1 billion tons in 2000,the coal output in the country has doubled in the five years, with the annual growth rate averaging 16 percent, Pu said.

    In 2004, China's coal output was 1.956 billion tons.

    In the same year, the sales revenue of China's major coal enterprises reached 420.4 billion yuan (51.9 billion US dollars), 2.46 times than that in 2000, which stood at 121.4 billion yuan (14.96 billion US dollars), according to the Economic Daily.

    China's soaring energy demand in recent years has made the formerly depreciating coal industry profitable, with profits totaling 41.8 billion yuan (5.15 billion US dollars) in 2004, the newspaper said.

    In 2004, 31 enterprises in China witnessed their crude coal output exceeding 10 million tons, with Shenhua Group ranking first, whose coal production exceeded 120 million tons.

    In 2004, China's primary energy production amounted to 1.845 billion tons of coal equivalent (TCE) and the total consumption of energy reached 1.97 billion TCE. Some 94 percent of China's energy consumption depends on its own supply, with an external dependency rate standing merely at 6 percent. Enditem