Group information / Commodity businesses
Xstrata Coal
Products
Xstrata Coal mines produce a diverse range of thermal, semi-soft and coking coal products which can be selectively blended at port to meet customer needs.
Markets
We have an exposure to both export and domestic markets. The export market represents around 90% of our customer base, with the Australian and South African domestic markets the remainder.
Major customers/ consuming regions/industry sectors
We service both domestic and export coal markets with our Australian operations largely supplying the Pacific thermal market and our South African operations largely the Atlantic thermal market. Our Australian metallurgical coals are supplied worldwide.
Pacific Coal Market
We export around 80% of our Australian thermal coal production to major power companies in the Pacific region including Japan, Korea and Taiwan and Mexico. Limited volumes of our Australian thermal coals are also occasionally sold into the Atlantic market.
We are one of the top two suppliers of thermal coal to Japan and Australia’s leading supplier of semi-soft coal, positioning Japan as our largest customer.
The Premium quality hard coking coal produced at the Oaky Creek operations is supplied to major steelmakers throughput Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Atlantic Coal Market
Approximately 75% of our South African thermal coal production is exported, primarily into the Atlantic market where Europe is the major export destination. The major import countries are the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Benelux. Outside of Europe, Israel is Xstrata Coal’s largest market.