Sudden increase in demand for U.S. coal

ST. LOUIS, March 10 (UPI) -- With demand for coal soaring around the world, Peabody Energy Co. in St. Louis has already exported more in 2008 than it did in all of 2007.

"The globe -- and we look at the whole globe -- is short of coal for the needs of demand," Peabody Chief Executive Officer Gregory Boyce told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in an interview. "That is now pulling huge amounts of exports out of the U.S."

U.S. coal exports are responding to a combination of high demand and problems in some other coal-producing countries. In China, a bitter winter has made shipping coal difficult while Australia is struggling to increase production and flooding has closed some mines.

The U.S. dollar's decline in value also makes the price attractive.

Peabody owns 30 percent of the Dominion Terminal Associates facility in Newport News, Va. Dominion President Charles Brinley told the Post-Dispatch the sudden increase in demand was a surprise.

"This is one of the most sudden turnarounds in my memory," Brinley said. "We expected to do about 5 million tons in 2007 as the year got under way and all of a sudden in August it really ramped up without a lot of warning."