BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 30. The US Energy Information Administration Agency (EIA) predicts a drop in US coal exports to 91 million tons in 2024 before going up again to 95 million tons in 2025, Trend reports.
The agency also estimates that US coal exports went up to 100 million tons in 2023.
Expect changes in how the US uses coal, especially in the power sector. In 2024, the agency projects that the power sector will use 73 percent of US coal, dropping to 70 percent in 2025, down from 79 percent in 2019. Back in 2019, the power sector used 539 million tons of coal, and exports were 94 million tons. After a dip in 2020 due to the pandemic, coal use went back to normal in 2021.
However, total US coal use has been going down, hitting 601 million tons in 2022 and dropping to 524 million tons in 2023, mainly because the power sector used less. Thus, the EIA expects power sector use to go down to 352 million tons in 2024 and 322 million tons in 2025.
The rise in exports reflects heightened demand for US coal in foreign markets, particularly in Asia, where coal consumption was set to break records in 2023, the EIA expalins. Europe and Asia saw increase in US coal demand, mainly for heating purposes. At the same time, the demand for US metallurgical coal stays steady in other countries.