South32’s metallurgical coal output down 15 percent in H2

South32, a global producer of premium-quality hard coking coal for steelmaking with its Illawarra Metallurgical Coal asset in Australia, has announced its metallurgical coal production and sales results for the six months ended December 31, 2021. According to the company’s statement, in the July-December period of last year South32 produced 2.767 million mt, down 15 percent year on year. The decrease in output is mostly due to the completion of an extended longwall move at the Dendrobium mine. Meanwhile, the company’s sales of metallurgical coal in the given period declined by nine percent year on year to 2.877 million mt. South32 has warned that Covid-19-related congestions at ports, and the implementation of additional workforce restrictions in New South Wales are likely to continue to impact the performance of the company during the first half of 2022.