W.Va. Coal Exports Up 40 Percent Over Last Year

By DAVID GUTMAN

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) ⿿ West Virginia exported 40 percent more coal in 2012 than it did in 2011, but that wasn't enough to compensate for a decrease in domestic demand, according to government data.

The export data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Commerce shows West Virginia coal exports rose by $2.1 billion to a total of $7.4 billion for the year.

Despite the increase in exports, West Virginia coal production was still down more than 8 percent in 2012, and the mining industry in the state lost more than 5,000 jobs, according to the West Virginia Department of Revenue.

Much of the rise is attributable to increased demand from Asia. West Virginia coal exports to China increased more than fivefold, from $93 million to $567 million, between 2011 and 2012. Coal exports to Japan increased more than tenfold, from $29 million to $395 million.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin trumpeted the growth in exports in a press release Monday, but officials don't see exports as a substitute for declining domestic demand for coal.

"The foreign markets are going to be erratic, there's going to be good years and bad years for the foreign markets, whereas the domestic markets are more stable," said Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow. "Overall, the numbers are negative; we see coal production decreasing in West Virginia."

The extreme growth in Japan and China shows the volatility of the foreign coal market.

Japan, with very few domestic energy resources, is the world's second-largest importer of coal. The 2011 tsunami that caused a disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant also caused damage at several coal-fired power plants. This caused coal imports to plummet in 2011. Unlike nuclear, coal has since recovered as an energy source in Japan, resulting in the spike in coal imports.

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