Coal accounted for 51 pct Shanxi's GDP in 2009
Shanghai. March 1. INTERFAX-CHINA - Shanxi Province's coal industry accounted for more than half of the province's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, according to government statistics released on Feb. 28.
Shanxi's coal industry generated RMB 376.6 billion ($55.14 billion) in revenue in 2009, making up 51 percent of the province's RMB 736.6 billion ($107.85 billion) GDP, according to the Shanxi Coal Industry Bureau (SCIB).
Due to the ongoing consolidation of its coal industry, Shanxi only produced 615 million tons of coal in 2009. Its annual production capacity is estimated to be about 900 million tons.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region surpassed Shanxi as China's largest coal producing region in 2009. The province's shrinking coal output held Shanxi's GDP growth in 2009 to 6 percent, the lowest of any region in China. China's GDP grew at an annual rate of 8.2 percent last year.
Nevertheless, the Shanxi government said late last year that the consolidation program was coming to an end as most of its small-scale coalmines would be folded into larger counterparts by the of 2009.
SCIB head Wang ShouZhen said last week that Shanxi's coal output in 2010 would rebound to about 700 million tons, of which 400 million tons would be sold to other parts of China.
-WV