Polish JSW increased coke sales by 5% y/y in the 4th quarter

Coke production in this period increased by 28% year-on-year

Polish coking and thermal coal producer Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) increased sales of metallurgical coke by 5% year-on-year – up to 790 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2023. This is evidenced by the company’s preliminary report for the fourth quarter.

Coke sales fell by 2.4% compared to the third quarter.

Sales of coking coal amounted to approximately 2.64 million tons, which is about 1.6% less than in the previous quarter and 5.4% more than in the previous year.

The company reported a decrease in coking coal production in October-December by 2.5% y/y and 4.9% q/q – to 2.69 million tons. Coke production in the period increased by 28% y/y – to 870 thousand tons. Compared to the third quarter, this figure increased by about 2.3%.

As JSW noted, compared to the third quarter of 2023, the average selling price of coking coal in the fourth quarter was 7% higher in both PLN and USD, but no specific data was provided. At the same time, the realized price of coke decreased by 2% in PLN and 1% in USD.

The company is to publish its full results for the fourth quarter and 2023 in March.

At the end of 2023, JSW declared force majeure due to a fire at its KWK Pniówek mine on December 6. The company estimated a reduction in coking coal production by 350 thousand tons in 2024 due to the incident.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, JSW reduced external sales of coking coal by 7% y/y – to 6.4 million tons, while coke sales fell by 11% – to 3.2 million tons. In the fourth quarter, the company reduced its total coal production by 2.9% compared to the same period in 2021, to 3.47 million tons. Coke production for the period amounted to 680 thousand tons, down 23.6% y/y, and coking coal production amounted to 2.76 million tons (-0.4% y/y).