Queensland's coal exports have reached a record high and yearly totals are predicted to continue growing, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) says.

The peak mining body said 223 million tonnes of coal was shipped from Queensland ports to 30 different countries and territories last year, trumping the previous record set in 2016 by 2 million tonnes.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said big players and new entrants to the state's coal industry had driven billions of dollars in investment.

"There is a very strong demand out there which is underpinning our economic strength at the moment in Queensland," he said.

Mr Macfarlane said based on early figures, demand and job numbers for this year were promising.

"It'll depend on how that demand holds up but even at this early stage we're seeing very strong demand, both for metallurgical coal and for thermal coal out of Queensland, we're still seeing lots of job advertisements for people," he said.

"We have a number of projects on the drawing boards in Central Queensland right across the Central Highlands and the Galilee Basin as well, so we are seeing very strong investment and very strong jobs growth that goes with it.

"We do have those extreme green activists who continually say coal is in decline but these figures clearly show that that is a lie, and the reality is that coal is continuing to grow and continuing to play an important part in our economy."

'Figures don't stack up': Waters

Despite the increase in exports, Greens senator Larissa Waters said the claims of more jobs for Queenslanders did not "stack up".

"It's been very interesting to see the coal industry in desperate PR overdrive in the last few weeks having a bit of a tantrum about my bill to keep the thermal coal in the Galilee Basin in the ground," she said.

"I don't believe the jobs claims that are being made … many of these companies are laying off workers."

Senator Waters said the entire country needed to "catch up" and embrace renewable energy.

"Rather than be stuck in the past and continue to subsidise these often-overseas, multinational fossil-fuel companies, rather than investing in clean, home-grown renewable energy that creates jobs for people in the regions," she said.

However, Acting Premier and Minister for Trade Cameron Dick said all mineral exports in Queensland were smashing records.

"We've just punched through $80 billion in exports for our state, that's the highest 12-month figure ever recorded," he said.

Mr Dick said Queensland would "always be a mining state" that sold products to the world.

"We now export more in Queensland than New South Wales and Victoria," he said.

Last year, economists had forecast Australia's thermal coal exports were expected to plummet but Mr Macfarlane said the figures showed otherwise.

"The reality is that coal is continuing to grow and continuing to play an important part in our economy," he said.