The price of coke exported from Shanxi Province, a major coal exporting province in China, dropped to US$313.6 per ton in July, down by US$77.7 or 24.94 percent from June, local customs said Wednesday.

The export price in January-July this year averaged US$321 per ton, compared with US$123 in the same period last year. The monthly price reached its peak of US$417.8 in May this year.

As a leading coal producer and exporter, Shanxi exported 1.9 million tons of coal in July and raked in US$106 million, up 28.8 percent and 155.67 percent, respectively, according to the customs of Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

Shanxi exported a total of 24.15 million tons of coal in the first seven months, earning more than US$1 billion.

The province's foreign trade jumped by 72.17 percent to US$5.07 billion in the seven months, including US$3.99 billion of export and US$1.08 billion of import, up 89.3 percent and 28.3 percent respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2004)