According to the State Council's Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Coal Industry (Guo Fa [2005] 18), the Shanxi Provincial People's Government requires "accelerating the establishment of a modern coal trading system with the national coal trading center as the main body, the regional market as the supplement and the network technology as the platform, which is conducive to the government's macro-control and the free trading of market participants". The State Council was approved in May 2007 on the basis of soliciting opinions from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Communications, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Development Research Center of the State Council. In September of the same year, China Taiyuan Coal Trading Center Co., Ltd. was registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, with a capital contribution of 940 million yuan.
In August 2008, Shanxi Provincial People's Government decided to set up China (Taiyuan) Coal Trading Center, which is a self-supporting institution directly under the provincial government.