Yancoal says coal markets ‘deteriorated’ in Q2, no signs of improvement

Yancoal Australia, which completed a merger with Gloucester Coal earlier this month, said coal markets “deteriorated” in 2012’s second quarter.

July 20, 2012

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“Yancoal does not see any signs of improvement in the next few months,” the company said in its quarterly activities report, referring to both thermal and coking coal markets.

“There is currently an oversupply of high-volatility metallurgical coals in the Asian market,” it added.

During the June quarter, Yancoal sold 2.07 million tonnes of metallurgical coal including sales from Gloucester Coal, up 25% from the corresponding period in 2011.

Sales of 4.2 million tonnes of metallurgical coal were recorded for the year ended June 30, an 11% rise year-on-year.

In the June 2012 quarter, Yancoal delivered its first shipment of coking coal from its Middlemount mine. The mine produced 650,000 tonnes of run-of-mine coal, the report noted.

Trading house Noble Group holds a 13.2% stake in the newly merged Yancoal.