Weekly Coal Shipments Finally Rose after Multiyear Lows
Weak Natural Gas Prices Keep Sending Chills down Coal's Spine
Coal shipments
According to the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) estimates, US coal shipments rose to 13.4 million tons during the week ended January 8, 2016. Of the total shipments, 5.4 million tons came from the East. The remaining 8.1 million tons came from the West. These shipments correspond to 75,112 railcar loadings.
Why is this coal shipment indicator important?
Every week, the EIA publishes shipment data based on coal railcar loadings. Coal is an important commodity for railroad companies such as Union Pacific (UNP) and CSX (CSX). However, coal’s importance in freight is falling due to the emergence of shale oil. It’s also falling due to competition from other commodities and the reduced propensity of utilities (XLU) to stock coal. For more about the relationship between crude oil and coal, please refer to part three of this series.
More importantly, coal producers mine coal based on demand, so coal shipments mirror production over the long term. In this sense, a sustained rise or fall in coal shipments over a few weeks compared to the previous year is a significant indicator for coal producers (KOL) such as Peabody Energy (BTU), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Arch Coal (ACIIQ), and Cloud Peak Energy (CLD).
Key takeaways from the state of coal shipments
There can be some deviations in coal shipments in the short term. It’s important to remember that shipments are a function of demand and other factors such as rail availability and competition from other commodities.
In this sense, weekly coal shipment data can be misleading. Apart from genuine demand-side issues, factors such as rail cars not being available, bad weather, and supply issues can distort the data.
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