Northern Appalachian producers are working to cash in on a bump in near-term pricing than

ks to robust export demand and tightness in 13,000 Btu/lb coal supply. 

NAPP producers and traders said Friday that continued strong calls for fourth-quarter 2017

and Q1 2018 seaborne delivery from Europe are pushing up values despite a sluggish dom

estic market. Prompt export demand coupled with production slowdowns at a pair of high-vo

lume mines have combined to create a window of elevated prices many market players don

't expect to last long. 

"There's no doubt you want to take advantage in what we've seen as a spike in prices," one

producer said. "Exports have been stronger than steady, and we're excited that there could

be some real opportunities after the first quarter, but it's really hard to know what prices will

be then. Everybody expects they'll be down, so, yes, you're trying to get what you can get d

one now." 

NAPP supply has shrunken recently in large part because of forced production stoppages at

CNX Coal's Bailey Mine and Contura Energy's Cumberland Mine. Mining was halted at Cum

berland because of a roof collapse similar to rock falls experienced at ERP Fuels' Federal an

d Oak Grove mines this year. Bailey's output slowed after permitting issues prevented the sta

rt of a panel, which led to a weeks-long move of the longwall to start a another panel.