US miner Arch Coal said Tuesday it had sold more metallurgical coal from Appalachia in the second quarter at 1.8 million st, up from 1.6 million st in the year earlier period, helping offset for weaker thermal coal demand.
Coal pricing was depressed from the earlier effect of global oversupply, but levels were said to begin to improve during Q2, as the company cited supply rationalization gradually taking effect, amid steady economic growth.
Arch said it had priced 6.5 million st of met coal for 2016, and 0.4 million st was left unpriced while committed.
Appalachian coal sales including thermal on 2.75 million st came in on a revenue per ton basis at $52.62/st, with the cost of sales at $64.22/st, leaving an operating loss of $11.60/st.
"Supply rationalization began to positively impact spot metallurgical pricing in the current period, but the impact on our realized pricing was muted," Arch said.
"Unit cost decreased significantly in the current year periods compared to the prior year periods, due to our continued shift of volume to lower cost operations, particularly the Leer complex, and the impairment of certain long lived assets in the third and fourth quarters of 2015 which significantly reduced depreciation, depletion, and amortization costs in the current year periods."
