In a conference call Thursday, Walter Energy forecast a slight improvement in demand for metallurgical coal in 2014--a contrast with other US-based coal miners that expect more improvement in thermal coal than metallurgical.
"Along with a projected steel demand growth (in 2014), demand for metallurgical coal is expected to grow by close to 30-million tons," said Walter Scheller, CEO of Walter Energy.
However, the company now expects most metallurgical coal sales to take place in the second half of 2014, compared to its earlier target of an April finish. Still, Walter Energy said it expects metallurgical coal sales in the first quarter to surpass fourth quarter sales, and full-year sales to modestly exceed that in 2013.
The company expects to produce about 11 million to 12 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2014, compared with the 11.6 million metric tons it produced in 2013.
As for Q4 metallurgical coal sales, totals increased 16 percent to 2.9 million metric tons, accounting for about 85 percent of total coal sales volume in the quarter. However total revenue slipped about 1 percent to $472 million, reflecting low coal prices.