U.S. coal shipments were 51.9 million tonnes in the first seven months of the year, up 21.3 percent on the same period last year, according to the data.
These numbers may change very slightly given not all July shipments will yet have been captured, but the overall trend is an impressive gain in U.S. coal exports.
If the figure for the first seven months of 2017 is annualized, it puts U.S. exports on track for a total of around 89 million tonnes this year, which would be well above the 65.42 million of 2016 and 2015’s 75.01 million.