HANOI, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported roughly 2.4 million tons of coal worth 325 million U.S. dollars in 2018, mainly to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, India and Malaysia, posting respective year-on-year increases of 7.6 percent and 13.1 percent.

Last month alone, Vietnam gained 30 million U.S. dollars from exporting 200,000 tons of coal, down 0.8 percent in value and down 22 percent in volume against December 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Monday.

Demand for coal in many Asian countries, including India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines will continue rising in the next few years, while that for the fossil fuel in China is forecast to drop slightly, according to Vietnams National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation (Vinacomin), the country's biggest coal producer and exporter.

Vinacomin sold 38.7 million tons of coal in the Vietnamese market, exported 1.8 million tons of the fossil fuel, and made coal revenues of 62,260 billion Vietnamese dong (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018.

Vinacomin said it currently has 98,600 workers whose monthly salary averages 10.8 million Vietnamese dong (nearly 470 U.S. dollars).