U.S. coal production to fall by more than 100 MMst in 2024

Coal production in the latest EIA forecast totals 585 million short tons (MMst) in 2023 and falls by more than 100 MMst in 2024. The large decrease next year is due to falling demand from the U.S. electric power sector. Reduced coal production is also a consequence of relatively full coal inventories held by electric generating plants, in late 2023 there is 50% more coal held by plants than in mid-2022. Even though coal prices have fallen due to demand reductions, coal-fired power generation is still not cost competitive based on our expectations that natural gas prices for electric generation […]