Energy Information Administration (EIA)

The Quarterly Coal Report (QCR) provides detailed quarterly data on U.S. coal production, distribution, exports, imports, receipts, prices, consumption, stocks, synfuel, and quality. Data on US. coke production, distribution, exports, imports, and consumption are also provided. All data for 2007 are final. All data for 2008 are final, with the exception of other industrial consumption, electric power sector consumption and stocks. All data for 2009 are preliminary.

Highlights for the 2nd Quarter of 2009:

• Production declined by 6.7 percent to 262.6 mst in the second quarter of 2009. This was the country’s lowest quarterly production in nine years.
• Total U.S. coal consumption fell by over 9 percent between the first and second quarters of 2009 to 231.7 mst, its lowest quarterly level in 14 years.
• After maintaining exceptionally high levels during most of 2008, coal exports fell for the second consecutive quarter. During the second quarter of 2009, U.S. producers exported 13.0 mst of coal, 2.9 percent less than they had exported during the preceding quarter, but 42 percent less than they exported during the final quarter of 2008.
• Between the first and second quarters of 2009, U.S. coal imports fell by 14 percent to 5.4 mst, their lowest level since the first quarter of 2004 and their lowest second-quarter level since 2002.
• After reaching their highest level in more than 22 years during the first quarter of 2009, ending stocks increased by an additional 11 percent between the first and second quarters. The new consumer stock level of 205.6 mst is now the highest level in the country’s history, exceeding the previous record set at the end of 1980.
• While demand for coal fell significantly between the first and second quarters of 2009, the average price of coal delivered to the electric power sector only fell from $2.25 per million Btu to $2.22 per million Btu. This new price is almost 10 percent higher than it was during the second quarter of 2008, when it was $2.02 per million Btu.

Originally published at:  http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/qcr_sum.html