Representative coal fluorine concentrations are essential to better estimate the environmental and health effects associated with the fluorine emissions from coal utilization. The average fluorine concentrations of coals in China are estimated based on fluorine analyses of about 2000 coal samples and coal reserves tonnage. The results reveal that the estimated average weighted fluorine concentrations of Carboniferous and Early Permian (C-P-1), Late Permian (P-2), Late Triassic (T-3), Early and Middle Jurassic (J(1-2)), Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (J(3)-K-1), and Eogene and Neogene (E-N) coals are 149.4, 200.9, 84.1, 84.46, 134.2, and 352.8 mu g/g, respectively. The overall average weighted fluorine concentration of coals in China is 130 mu g/g and is approximately one third higher than the reported value of the US coals. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.