On September 10, St. Louis, US-based coal producer Patriot Coal announced that its sales volume in the third quarter of 2010 is expected to be in the range of 7.5-7.7 million mt, down about 10 percent from earlier estimates.
According to a company statement, the expected shortfall in shipments is similarly split between thermal and metallurgical coal and is related to difficult conditions and downtime which occurred at mine operations as well as continued heightened regulatory oversight. Based on the largely fixed cost nature of Patriot's mining operations, the cost per ton is expected to be higher than anticipated, as costs are allocated to fewer tons, the company said.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Patriot’s sales in the second quarter totaled 8.1 million mt, including 6.2 million mt of thermal and 1.9 million mt of metallurgical coal. This was slightly lower than the 8.3 million mt sold in the second quarter of 2009, which included 7.3 million mt of thermal and 1.0 million mt of metallurgical coal.