Three Chinese coal companies sold more than 100 million tons of coal last year.

Shenhua Group Corp. Ltd. output 203 million tons of raw coal in 2006, up 35.6 percent, to become China's first coal company to reach the milestone of 200 million tons.

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For the seventh year in a row, the company managed to avoid accidents involving more than three deaths.

Shenhua's sales soared 40 percent year on year to 240 million tons, 10 percent of which was exported.

The coal giant reported revenues of 83.8 billion yuan (10.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 26 percent, and profits of 25.6 billion yuan, up 16.4 percent.

China National Coal Group Corp. came second in terms of output, producing 90.6 million tons of raw coal last year, up 26.1 percent.

Meanwhile, China Coal sold 103.15 million tons, notching up profits of 4.13 billion yuan on revenues of 52 billion yuan.

Datong Coal Mine Group Corp. produced 61.75 million tons of coal and sold 104.1 million tons last year.

The company reported profits of 200 million yuan on sales of 27 billion yuan.

China consumed 2.37 billion tons of coal last year, up 9.6 percent year on year, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Zhou Dadi, researcher with the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said earlier that the 9.6 percent increase showed China's economic growth still relied too much on coal, which is comparatively dirty and inefficient.

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