Energy demands around the world sees record US coal exports.
U.S. coal exports are responding to a combination of high demand and problems in some other coal-producing countries. In China, a bitter winter has made shipping coal difficult while Australia is struggling to increase production and flooding has closed some mines.
The U.S. dollar’s decline in value also makes the price attractive.
Peabody owns 30 percent of the Dominion Terminal Associates facility in Newport News, Va. Dominion President Charles Brinley told the Post-Dispatch the sudden increase in demand was a surprise.
They have already exported more in 2008 than the whole of 2007.
