After a surge in coal prices in the second half of 2016, both thermal and metallurgical coal have declined sharply this year, but around $80 and $150 a tonne respectively, the seaborne market is still trading well above recent multi-year lows.
After missing out on the rally in seaborne coal last year thanks to a very small presence in export markets, prices achieved by US miners have been playing catch-up.
Hopes of a revival for the industry thanks to changes to the regulatory environment by the Trump administration have seen Central Appalachian coal (Nymex FOB) jump nearly 40% to $51.60 a short ton year from decade lows hit in October. Coal from the Powder River basin has also improved, jumping to $11.45, from the $8.25 low hit hit in September.
Murray is confident Trump will follow through with campaign plans to reinvigorate the coal industry
Coal production in the US has fallen dramatically over the past few years and today’s higher prices may not translate into a reversal of this trend. American coal production in 2016 was 746m tonnes, down from over a 1B tons in 2014 according to EIA estimates. Coal consumption fell over the same period from 917m to 737m tons, while coal exports nearly halved to 58m tons.
Robert Murray founder and chief executive of Murray Energy, the largest privately held coal mining company tells the Guardian newspaper he’s “confident Trump will follow through with campaign plans to reinvigorate the coal industry,” by repealing the previous administration’s “fraudulent” green energy policies.
However, says Murray, the US coal industry does “not have a climate change or global warming problem, we have an energy cost problem” and warned President Trump whom he met in February to “temper” expectations about a boom in mining jobs:
Trump has consistently pledged to restore mining jobs, but many of those jobs were lost to technology rather than regulation and to competition from natural gas and renewables, which makes it unlikely that he can do much to significantly grow the number of jobs in the industry, said Murray.
“I suggested that he temper his expectations. Those are my exact words,” said Murray. “He can’t bring them back.”
Continue reading at The Guardian
5 Comments
Restless Boomers
Everyone pretty much knows these coal mining jobs have been lost forever, except those who continue to believe Trump’s nonsensical statements and outright lies. Goldman Sachs is running this show. Trump, like Obumer, is just the golf playing, party going point man.
Wallstreetwise
Trump can’t do anything but take orders and try to succeed in making them work. Remember this
statement from Franklin D. Roosevelt, the legendary Democratic President of years ago: “NOTHING JUST HAPPENS; EVERYTHING IS PLANNED”. Planned by who? Well now we know who, the 1%!
Kenneth Viney
RB you are obviously another progressive liberal. Just cutting new reclaim and water use regulation will help the industry get back on it’s feet. The 40% increases in local pricing will give it a lift. Give the man half a chance. You young folk expect it all to happen overnite when it took over 8 years to bring us to this point. Trump is the hardest working President we have ever had. You are dead wrong..
Dave Black
God you yanks are so full of it. Read basic economics. Australia, indonesia, and so many others producecoal at 30-40% of your costs.. Autonomous trucking,multi machine loading, where are all your jobs? Economy of scale and economy of production killed off your industry. Australia is the same with iron ore. COP is under $30/ ton. All the producers over that either get leaner or fold. That all off the small producers.
So to keep the pits going to allow your outdated mines to operate,you gunna get Daddy Trump to give you a subsidy?? Thats an idea. Blow 600 billion on defence, cut all your health care, education, and then subsidise a fading industry!
Better learn to eat coal and drink salt water, the environment wont last forever
Mesquite Ice
even a country like pakistan is investing 50 billion USD in coal. US cannot allow china to rule coal industry.
US should set up units to process coal into olefins, petrochemicals, methanol or even crude, gas etc to use coal in an optimal manner.