BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 14. US coal stocks are expected to remain high in 2025, peaking around 160 MMst in May 2025 before dropping to nearly 130 MMst by December 2025, Trend reports.
As the US Energy Information Administration Agency (EIA) forecasts, US coal stocks are set to climb from 130 MMst in February to nearly 160 MMst by May.
"However, we expect a decrease of 11% in coal stocks from May to September as power plants switch to coal to meet the increased demand for air conditioning during the summer. Stocks will rise again in the fall, reaching almost 150 MMst by the end of the year, the highest since mid-2016," the agency says.
Meanwhile, coal stocks held by the electric power sector went up a bit in February, rebounding from a -percent drop in January. This dip was because of cold weather in the middle of the month, which led to a brief jump in natural gas prices and increased the use of coal for power generation.
Furthermore, the EIA also forecasts a 1-percent increase in coal exports in 2024 and a further 5-percent increase in 2025. As the agency explains, this is because coal consumption by the U.S. electric power sector is expected to decline by 7 percent in 2024 and a further 4 percent in 2025.
With high coal stocks and decreasing domestic consumption, coal production is anticipated to decrease by 15 percent in 2024. Additionally, the EIA forecasts a further 6-percent decline in coal production in 2025 as 11 gigawatts of coal-generating capacity goes offline.