Glencore Xstrata produced 1.5 million mt of coking coal in the January-March quarter, falling 17% year on year and down 12% from the previous quarter, the company said in its production report published Tuesday.
It ascribed the fall in production "to a decision to move away from certain high costs mines and areas, basis the current weak coal price environment, and focus on higher margin thermal coal production." Australian semi-soft coal output also dropped in the first quarter to 0.9 million mt, down 18% year on year and 25% lower from the previous quarter.
The miner announced in March that it will stop producing semisoft coking coal at its Ravensworth underground mine in September.
The company's cuts in production comes amid volume expansions by other global coking coal exporters such as Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Teck Resources.
Anglo American's metallurgical coal production in Q1 jumped 31% year on year to 6.1 million mt, while BHP Billiton's output of metallurgical coal in the quarter was up 28% year on year at 11.467 million mt. Teck reported an 8% year-on-year increase in its coal production to 6.7 million mt in the first quarter.
