Coal Miner Coronado Sees Potential for Short-term Price Recovery -- Commodity Comment

Dow Jones
23 Jan
 

Coronado Global Resources on Thursday reported a rise in coal production and sales quarter over quarter.

Saleable production from its mines, located in Australia and the U.S., rose by 4.1% in the final three months of 2024 compared to the prior quarter, while sales rose by 4.7%.

 

On coal markets:

"A sluggish macroeconomic recovery and bearish sentiment around Chinese steel demand has kept met [metallurgical] coal prices broadly stable for the December quarter. Coronado anticipates that Chinese demand fundamentals will remain stable until after the Chinese New Year, contingent on potential additional stimulus measures and clarity on international trade actions from the new U.S. administration," the company said.

"Looking ahead to 2025, Coronado expects a rebound in steel production and consumption in seaborne markets outside of China. This recovery is expected to be driven by increased industrial activity and ongoing trade measures that mitigate the impact of high Chinese steel exports. Consequently, non-China steel production is projected to recover, enhancing demand for seaborne steelmaking raw materials."

 

On prices:

"In the short term, Coronado considers there is potential for a price recovery, primarily driven by increased demand from India as steel production resumes, restocking occurs, and as the Indian government continues to support domestic coke and steel producers through tariffs and quotas on imports of metallurgical coke."

 

On Australia operations:

"During December, the Curragh Complex was impacted by one week of intermittent power outages that prevented continuous processing of ROM [run-of-mine] coal through the processing plants. The impact resulted in ROM coal inventory exceeding plan, the benefits of which will be realized in the following quarters as the [roughly 600,000-metric-ton] ROM coal inventory at the end of December is processed," Coronado said.

"As planned, in the December quarter we idled the company-owned shovel, T282 trucks, and ancillary equipment, totaling 14 pieces of equipment, that are less productive and cost effective when operating in elevated rainfall periods. The Australian operations remain committed to optimizing performance; and efforts remain focused on improving productivity from the dragline fleet and drill and blast performance; and reducing cost base."

 

On U.S. operations:

"Coronado's U.S. operations ROM production and saleable production reduced as expected in the December quarter with a scheduled longwall move at Buchanan. At Buchanan, the longwall move from the 1 South LW panel to the 2 South LW panel was successfully completed during the month of November. Buchanan continues to benefit from the operational flexibility afforded by the two longwalls yielding increased skip counts and belt availability," the company said.

"There will be further enhancement through planned completion of the expansion project in 2025 which adds additional intermediate stockpiles and a second set of skips, providing further capacity and redundancy."

 

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2025 16:53 ET (21:53 GMT)

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