egolinews.com

Gloucester Coal Limited (GCL) said total sales were down 9% despite a 73% increase in coking coal sales in the quarter to December 2009. The company said this reflected a decision to focus on the coking coal market.

GCL said total sales for the quarter was 444kt of which coking coal contributed 146kt.

“The company focused on coking coal sales in a strengthening market,” GCL said.

“Gloucester has been able to adjust its mining and sales mix to take advantage of the strengthening coking coal market and maximise overall sales volume within the allocation constraints provided by the Port of Newcastle Capacity Balancing System.”

The company said the outlook for the coking coal market remained strong with spot hard coking coal sale prices being reported at substantially higher prices than those seen in the 2009/10 Japanese Financial Year

GCL noted that this was driven by strong demand and tight supply.

“We believe this outlook augers well for the company to achieve substantial price increases for the 2010/11 Japanese Fiscal Year,” GCL said.

The company said its focus remained on supplying the Japanese steel mills, however management is also seeking to place coal into alternative markets to maximise returns on its coking coal volumes increase with the planned Duralie extension in late 2010.

Meanwhile, quarterly sales of Gloucester thermal coal of 295kt, representing a reduction of 26% compared to the previous corresponding period, was as a result of a focus on coking coal deliveries.

The company said total product for the quarter ended December 2009 was 491kt, up 13% compared to the previous corresponding period. This was off a 17% increase in total ROM coal delivered to its processing plant.

On Monday, Gloucester Coal shares were up 4c to $8.41.

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