Poland's JSW, the largest coking coal miner in the European Union, cut its 2014 production target by 9 to 12 percent and slashed investment in an effort to regain profitability after steep falls in coal prices. State-controlled JSW, which swung to a net loss of over $100 million in the first half of the year, said in a statement late on Friday it planned to produce 13.8 million to 14.0 million tonnes of coal in 2014.
The new goal was not comparable with its earlier target of 13.8 million tonnes, because that figure did not include an expected 1.5-1.6 million tonnes of coal to be produced by the Knurow-Szczyglowice mine, which JSW bought in April from another state-controlled miner, Kompania Weglowa. Without the added output of the Knurow-Szczyglowice mine, JSW's coal production would fall by 9-12 percent by comparison with the earlier target. JSW also said it planned to reduce 2014 investment in the group to 1.809 billion zlotys ($548 million) from 2.167 billion before, a drop of about 17 percent. JSW's shares have lost nearly half of their value this year and 80 percent since the company's stock market debut in 2011. The shares hit an all-time low of 27.50 zlotys on Friday. In common with other eastern European coal producers, such as Czech miner New World Resources, JSW is especially vulnerable to low coal prices because it has higher costs than miners in Asia or Australia.
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