Colombia’s Coal Output Down 4 Percent in 2013

Reuters reported that in 2013, Colombia put out 85.5 million tonnes of coal, a 4-percent decrease from 2012 and below the country’s production target. The decline was mainly due to strikes at the two top miners in the nation.

As quoted in the market news:

Royalties the government earned from its second most valuable commodity export after oil totalled 1.2 trillion pesos ($585.3 million) in the fourth quarter of the year compared with 1.6 trillion in the same period of 2012, a drop the agency said was partly also due to lower prices.

The agency did not offer a figure for total royalties earned in the year or a coal production forecast for 2014.

Despite the year-on-year drop, output surged 18 percent in the final quarter of the year versus that period of 2012. Those three months were free of strike action or significant logistics disruption.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.