BEIJING, Oct. 28, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York-listed Chinese coal producer Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., Ltd (NYSE:YZC) (600188.SH; 1171.HK; YZC.NYSE) said Wednesday that its net profit in the first three quarters of 2009 declined by 54.7 percent or 3.658 billion yuan to 3.028 billion yuan, due mainly to product price fall.

The company's quarterly performance report released Wednesday, also showed that its operating profit in the three quarters saw 55.3 percent decline or 5.078 billion yuan to 4.1 billion yuan.

Yanzhou Coal attributed the profit fall to decline in the average selling prices of coal both in domestic and overseas markets on weakening coal demand under the global economic crisis.

According to the report, the average coal selling price of Yanzhou Coal for the first three quarters of 2009 stood at 525.72 yuan per ton, down 26.1 percent from the 711.37 yuan per ton for the same period last year.

During the January-September period, Yanzhou Coal exported 1.135 million tons of coal, down 23.32 percent on year and sold 26.356 million tons on the domestic market, up 1.71 percent on year. However, the sales increase was apparently inadequate to offset the losses caused by price fall.

The following is a table showing the main business indicators for the first three quarters of 2009 of Yanzhou Coal according to Chinese Accounting Principles:

Q1-Q3 of 2009 Q1-Q3 of 2008 Earnings per share (yuan) 0.62 1.351 Basic return on net assets (%) 10.99 26.33 Turnover (million yuan) 15,338.487 20,592.025 Operating profit (million yuan) 4,100.823 9,179.014 Net profit attributed to shareholders (million yuan) 3,028.439 6,686.813