Quarterly Coal Report (QCR)—Second-Quarter 2024

The Quarterly Coal Report (QCR) provides detailed quarterly data on U.S. coal production, exports, imports, receipts, prices, consumption, quality, and stocks. The report also provides data on U.S. coke production, consumption, stocks, imports, and exports. All data for 2022 and previous years are final. All data for 2023 and 2024 are preliminary.

• U.S. coal production during the second quarter of 2024 totaled 118.1 million short tons (MMst), which was 9.1% lower than the previous quarter and 17.1% lower than the second quarter of 2023. Production in the Western region, which represented about 49.1% of total U.S. coal production in the second quarter of 2024, totaled about 58 MMst (24.1% lower than the second quarter of 2023).
• U.S. coal exports for the second quarter of 2024 (25.8 MMst) decreased 3.8% from the first quarter of 2024. The average price of U.S. coal exports during the second quarter of 2024 was $135.64 per short ton.
• The United States continued to import coal primarily from Colombia (50.6%) and Canada (39.5%). No imports from Australia or Indonesia were recorded for the second quarter of 2024. U.S. coal imports in the second quarter of 2024 totaled 0.5 MMst. The average price of U.S. coal imports during the second quarter of 2024 was $187.79 per short ton.
• Steam coal exports totaled 12 MMst (3.6% lower than the first quarter of 2024). Metallurgical coal exports totaled 13.8 MMst (4% lower than the first quarter of 2024).
• U.S. coal consumption totaled 91.2 MMst in the second quarter of 2024, which was 9% lower than the 100.2 MMst reported in the first quarter of 2024 and 0.3% lower than the 91.5 MMst reported in the second quarter of 2023. The electric power sector accounted for about 90.1% of the total U.S. coal consumption in the second quarter of 2024.
• In the second quarter of 2024, coal stocks dropped to 157.9 MMst from 158 MMst at the end of the first quarter of 2024 (a 0% decrease). Stocks in the electric power sector decreased to 133.5 MMst from 133.6 MMst at the end of the first quarter of 2024, the first decrease since the end of third-quarter 2023.