US weekly coal production up 11.6% over the week

11 December 2017

US, the world’s second largest coal producing country produced an estimated 15.7 million short tons (mmst) of coal for the week ending December 2, 2017, EIA said in its latest report. This production estimate is 11.6% higher than last week’s estimate and 9% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2016.

East of the Mississippi River produced an estimated 5.9 mmst (up 9.25% w/w) and west of the Mississippi River produced an estimated 9.8 mmst (up 12.64% w/w) according to weekly figures released by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), on December 7, 2017.

U.S. year-to-date (as of December 2, 2017) coal production totalled an estimated totalled 724.5 mmst, 8.2% higher than the comparable year-to-date coal production in 2016.

Ten month coal output

Coal production for the first 10 months of 2017 is estimated to have been 656 million short tons (MMst), 59 MMst (10%) higher than production for the same period in 2016. Annual production is expected to be about 790 MMst in both 2017 and 2018.

Coal Exports

Coal exports for the first seven months of 2017 totaled 51 MMst, which was 62% higher than in the same period of 2016. EIA expects growth in coal exports to slow, with exports for all of 2017 forecast at 75 MMst, 15 MMst (24%) higher than the 2016 level.