Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
Coal is a widely used global commodity whose price fluctuates greatly. Demand for both thermal coal and coking coal has increased during the past five years as some emerging economies have shown rapid growth. In the next five years, as the global economy normalizes, steel production will increase, boosting demand for coking coal. In addition, new technology that enables burning low-sulfur coal will increase demand for thermal coal in Western markets while keeping coal's environmental impact to a minimum... read more
Industry Products
The Global Coal Mining industry produces two types of coal: black coal and brown coal (also known as lignite). Black coal can be further broken down into thermal coal and coking coal. Coal is categorized based on its contents of carbon (i.e. energy) and moisture, which in turn determine its value.
Thermal coal
Thermal coal (also known as steaming coal) is used to convert to electricity as a source of energy. Thermal coal generally contains less carbon than coking coal, making it unsuitable for steel making; instead, it has relatively high energy content, thus suiting it for electricity generation. Currently, over 73.8% of global coal production (by volume) consists of thermal coal... read more