Polish hard coal production from January-September rose 3% year on year to 52 million mt with sales up 4% to 54 million mt, the Industrial Development Agency (ARP) said Monday.
The increase in production was driven by a 3% increase in thermal coal output to 42 million mt. Coking coal production in the period was down 1% at 9.7 million mt, according to ARP figures.
As a result of the higher sales -- especially in September when they reached 8.4 million mt, well above the 5.3-6.5 million mt level of previous months -- the amount of coal stockpiled at collieries fell 41% year on year to 3.4 million mt.
Hard coal exports dipped 1% to 6.7 million mt. By the end of August, the most recent month with available data, Poland imported 5.2 million mt of hard coal, including 3.2 million mt from Russia. About 1 million mt, mostly coking coal, was bought from Australia.
The average price of Polish hard coal in January-August was Zloty 231/mt ($59/mt), down 11% year on year, while the average unit production cost was Zloty 241/mt.
As a result, Poland's coal mines made a net loss on sales of Zloty 1.3 billion in the first three quarters.
