Last week, West Virginia coal production increased at one its highest week over week rates since the COVID pandemic, going up +12.8% from the previous week. State production from the NAPP region increased by +14.34% and output from the CAPP region of the state increased by almost +11%. Nationally, coal production increased by +9.6%. Production from the entire Appalachian region increased by
+8.7%. Production from the Interior region increased by +9.2% and Western output increased by just over +10%.
Thermal coal prices changed across most of the basins. CAPP prices decreased by -2% (-$1.10), NAPP pricing increased by +3.1% (+$1.40). Illinois basin prices were static from the previous week, and prices dropped slightly in the Powder River Basin (-0.4%) and Western Bituminous (-0.5%) regions. Average natural gas prices declined by -10.6% week over week.
U.S. Iron and steel production declined week over week by -1.02%, with capacity utilization decreasing by -1.3%.
Electric generation was down nationally by -2.8% from the previous week, with output from the coal regions decreasing by -3.3%
Total U.S. rail traffic increased slightly week over week by +0.9%, with coal car loadings increasing by +10%.