| U.S. coal producers shipped less coal abroad in the final quarter of 2022 than in the same quarter the year before, but some producers remain opportunistic about recent opportunities to sell coal to Europe and other countries going into 2023. Source: dan_prat/E+ via Getty Images |
U.S. coal exports in the fourth quarter of 2022 were down 4.7% from the prior-year quarter but held roughly flat compared to the previous quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
The single largest buyer of U.S. coal in the quarter was India, which received 3.5 million tons of coal from U.S. producers, an increase of 25% over the 2021 fourth quarter. Other large coal buyers, including the Netherlands and Brazil, also increased deliveries of U.S. coal in the quarter.
Executives with Consol Energy Inc., a Pennsylvania-based producer, said on a Feb. 7 earnings call that export markets had proven lucrative in recent months. The company is also in talks with buyers in Asia and Europe interested in longer-term deals for coal shipments.
"We're not too concerned about the first half of the year. We are pretty much committed and sold through that," Consol CEO Jimmy Brock said on the call. "The back half is where we have some open tons ... but we still feel really good about our ability to move coal into international markets and demand picking up the second half of the year."
The U.S. Energy Information Administration wrote in a February short-term energy outlook that exports of coal used for power generation are expected to climb from 39 million tons in 2022 to 45 million tons in 2024. The increase is primarily due to greater demand from Europe.
Shipments are up to European countries grappling with an energy crisis spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. France and Germany, for example, increased coal shipments by 273.8% and 176.7%, respectively, compared to the prior-year quarter. However, Japan, Canada, South Korea and China were among the destinations where fewer U.S. coal tons landed in the period.
Fourth-quarter 2022 coal shipments from the ports in Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston-Galveston plummeted yearly and quarterly. The port in Seattle recorded shipment declines of 69.2% year over year and 38.3% quarter over quarter.
Total shipments from Norfolk, Va., which exports more coal than any other U.S. port, were steady compared to the previous year but fell 4.7% from the preceding quarter. Overall, seven of the top 10 U.S. ports for coal exports posted lower shipments quarter over quarter, and exports from six ports decreased year over year.
Coal sellers ship most U.S. coal out of Norfolk or Baltimore. While metallurgical coal shipments from Norfolk declined 13.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the prior year, loads of other coal from Norfolk rose 156.1%. Metallurgical coal from Baltimore rose 16.4% in the quarter compared to the prior-year period, while other coal loads increased 17.5%.
