New South Wales coal industry profile 2005

Abstract

The New South Wales (NSW) coal mining industry produced a record 147 million tonnes (Mt) of raw coal, yielding 114.2 Mt of saleable coal, in 2003-04. This accounted for $4.8 billion in income, or 72% of the total value of the NSW mining sector (Figure 1). Exports of 85.0 Mt of thermal and metallurgical coal totalled approximately $3.7 billion in value, while domestic consumption of 33 Mt of coal by the power, steel and other industries totalled $1.1 billion in value. The remaining saleable coal was placed into mining stocks. Asia continued to be the major market for NSW coal, with the region buying approximately 75.6 Mt (88.9%) of exports. The major customers were Japan (50.9 Mt), an increase of 19% over the previous year, Taiwan (10.1 Mt) and the Republic of South Korea (6.5 Mt). Coal exports to Europe increased to 5.0 Mt, 16% higher than the previous year. The Netherlands and Italy were the State's largest European customers, receiving 0.90 Mt and 0.73 Mt of coal, respectively.