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South China's Guangdong Province, which is economically developed but short of resources, reported continuous, rapid growth in coal arrivals with import prices rising by big margins.

The local customs house said in August alone, Guangdong imported 604,000 tons of coal, representing a year-on-year increase of 21.6 percent.

Between January and August, Guangdong imported 3.7 million tons of anthracite, 409,000 tons of coking coal and 2.1 million tons of soft coal which were priced at 39.5 US dollars/ton, 121.8 US dollars/ton and 46.3 US dollars/ton, respectively. Their values were 37.2 percent, 52 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively, higher than the year-earlier levels, the local custom house said.

According to the customs sources, Guangdong's coal imports from ASEAN countries have kept growing rapidly since the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Between China and ASEAN, began to be carried out.

Last year, Vietnam surpassed Australia, which was the major coal supplier for Guangdong from 1995 to 2003, to become the top source of coal arrivals at ports of the province. Over the past few years, Indonesia also exceeded Australia to become the second largest coal supplier for Guangdong, next only to Vietnam.