TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – In the first half this year, US coal exports continued to decline from their record volumes in 2012, as lower European demand for steam coal and increased steam coal supplies from Australia and Indonesia, coupled with added metallurgical coal supplies from Australia, Canada and Russia, wiped out nine-million tons in exports.

In its publication ‘Today in Energy’, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that during the first half of 2014, coal exports were 52.3-million short tons, 16% lower year-on-year.

Most of the country’s exports were destined for countries in Europe and Asia.

Coal exports fell into two categories: metallurgical (met) coal, which was mainly used to make steel, and steam coal, which was commonly used to fuel boilers generating steam used to produce electricity. With relatively minor coal imports, the US had been a net exporter of coal since 1949, the earliest year of data collection, the EIA stated.

EIA coal analyst Elias Johnson said met coal production, mainly from the Illinois and Appalachian coal basins, represented less than 8% of output, but 56% of total US coal exports in 2013. Europe was the leading destination for met coal exports, followed by Asia. Together, these two regions accounted for nearly 80% of US met coal exports in the first half of 2014.

Steam coal also had applications at combined heat and power plants to produce steam used in industrial processes. Steam coal generally had lower heat content than met coal and could be found at most coal-producing basins in the US.

In recent years, steam coal accounted for more than 90% of domestic coal output. During the first half of 2014, Europe received 8.8-million tons of US steam coal exports, a drop of 7.4-million tons compared with the same period in 2013.

Asia's share of US steam coal exports increased in 2014, but export tonnage to Asia decreased 2.4% from the first half of 2013.

Last year, six US ports shipped 89% of US coal exports. Among them, eastern ports Baltimore and Norfolk represented 55% and southern ports Houston, Mobile and New Orleans accounted for 30%. Seattle accounted for five-million tons, or 4%, all of which was steam coal exports.

Eastern and southern ports were mainly used to export met coal, owing to their proximity to the Illinois and Appalachian basins.

Despite providing a ‘stable’ overall outlook for the US coal industry, Moody’s Investors Service this week sketched a gloomy scenario for the next 12 to 18 months, pointing to weak fundamentals as thermal coal demand faltered and steelmaking met coal prices remained stubbornly low, setting the stage for more operations to be idled and workers furloughed.