BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- China Taiyuan Coal Exchange has got the nod from the State Council, or the Cabinet, for establishment in the capital of north China's Shanxi Province.

    The exchange, the first of this kind in China, will be expanded from the existing Taiyuan Coal Trading Market, expected to facilitate the trading of around 500 million tons of coal annually in the initial stage, a local coal official said Wednesday.

    China exports 80 million tons of coal annually, ranking the third in the world, while coke exports account for 57 percent of the global trade volume.

    Pointing to this, the official said China needs its own authority price for coal.

    Early in 2005, the State Council set a goal to build a modern coal market system that contributes not only to market-based transactions but to marco-economic control in the next three to five years.