Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., a major Chinese coal producer, said Wednesday its unaudited net profit for the first half of 2005 had risen 56.54 percent from a year earlier to 1.66 billion yuan (US$204.3 million) thanks to higher coal prices.

The largest Chinese coal producer said its total profit had surged 50.2 percent to 2.48 billion yuan during the first half. Profit from principal business was up 29.46 percent at 4.01 billion yuan and revenue from principal business up 25.2 percent at 6.68 billion yuan.

Yanzhou Coal, which lists shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong, said the increase was "principally due to the optimization of the coal type structure by the company and the significant increase in the average coal sale price when compared to the corresponding period last year."

The company said the figures had not been audited and had been prepared in accordance with Chinese accounting standards.

Yanzhou Coal said its total assets had increased 12.46 percent to 20.48 billion yuan as of June 30, while net assets rose 6.34 percent to 16.22 billion yuan. It gave no further details.

The company had said in April that it expected its first half net profit to rise by more than 50 percent on higher prices. Yanzhou Coal expected its 2005 output to remain flat at 40 million tons and its coal prices to rise between 10 and 17 percent this year, investment bank UBS said earlier in a research report.

UBS quoted Yanzhou Coal's chief financial officer Wu Yuxiang as saying that domestic spot coal prices looked stable at the higher levels since last year and he did not expect major declines in the next two to three years.

The firm's domestic coal prices were seen rising 15 to 17 percent this year from 2004 while export prices were likely to rise by 10 percent this year, Wu said.

(Shenzhen Daily July 28, 2005)