China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. In 2002, China produced over 1.3 billion tons of raw coal, an increase of approximately 0.3 billion tons in comparison to 2002. The total estimated consumption of coal in 2002 reached up to 1.2 billion tons. Raw coal production and coal consumption in recent years accounts for 67.2 percent and 67.0 percent of the total energy of the country respectively. Coal exports from China have increased rapidly in the last few years. In 2001, the coal exports amounted to 85.9 million tons, which is 146 percent of the amount in 2000. However, in the year 2002, the amount of coal exports remained at a similar level of 85.75 Mt. In terms of coal mining enterprise ownership and administrative affiliations, there are three categories in China. They are: central government-controlled key coal mines/administrations, provincial and local government-owned coal mines/administrations, and village or private small mines. The output of raw coal from the state-owned mines and province-owned mines in the year 2002 is about 55 percent and 18 percent respectively, whereas the output of raw coal from private and village- or township mines accounts for 27 percent. The coal production from private and village mines obviously began to reduce in the year 1998 when the policy to shut down small mines was put into action. Since then, 25,000 small coalmines have been forced to close. The main coalmines in China are concentrated in northern and northwestern regions, mainly in Shanxi, Inner Mongolian, Henan, and Shandong provinces, and they are far away from the major coal consumers which tend to be in the south and east regions of China. In early 2001, the employees in all of the government mines totaled as many as 4.26 million.
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