How to Read the EIA Quarterly Coal Report — Production, Exports, Consumption, Stocks and the Balancing Item

As of 2 November 2026, 01:16 KST; most recently published report: the Quarterly Coal Report for April-June 2026 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with quarterly U.S. coal production, trade, consumption and stocks. The report page shows a release date of October 1, 2026 and a next release date of TBD; the sources used give no time of day. EIA's release schedule describes the report as published in the middle of the fourth month following the end of the quarter and calls such dates approximate. Primary source: https://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/pdf/tes1p01p1.pdf^[1][2][3]

Comparison basis: levels are from Table ES-1 in thousand short tons; the highlights round them to million short tons (MMst), so 125,350 becomes 125.4. Published changes are to one decimal; this page's calculated changes are rounded half up to one decimal from the table levels and match every published change checked here. Total stocks are this page's sum of producer and distributor stocks and consumer stocks, which matches the 137.8 and 145.5 MMst in the highlights. All 2025 and 2026 values are preliminary. The table, report page and release schedule are all EIA publications and count as one source.^[1][2]

In three lines

1. The EIA Quarterly Coal Report gives U.S. coal production, imports, exports, consumption and stocks by quarter, with a balancing item for losses and unaccounted-for coal.
2. In April-June 2026, production was 125.4 MMst (4.9% below the first quarter) and consumption 88.8 MMst (15.5% lower), while exports rose 13.3% to 26.8 MMst.
3. Stocks rose to 145.5 MMst at the end of June; about 90.5% of consumption was in the electric power sector.^[1][2]

"U.S. coal production during the second quarter of 2026 totaled 125.4 million short tons (MMst), which was 4.9% lower than the previous quarter and 2.2% lower than the second quarter of 2025." "Production in the Western region, which represented about 49.2% of total U.S. coal production in the second quarter of 2026, totaled about 61.6 MMst (9.6% lower than the second quarter of 2025)." "U.S. coal exports for the second quarter of 2026 (26.8 MMst) increased 13.3% from the first quarter of 2026." "The average price of U.S. coal exports during the second quarter of 2026 was $110.68 per short ton." "Steam coal exports totaled 13 MMst (25.1% higher than the first quarter of 2026)." "Metallurgical coal exports totaled 13.9 MMst (4.2% higher than the first quarter of 2026)."^[2]

"The United States continued to import coal primarily from Colombia (82.6%) and Canada (8.4%)." "U.S. coal consumption totaled 88.8 MMst in the second quarter of 2026, which was 15.5% lower than the 105 MMst reported in the first quarter of 2026 and 10.2% lower than the 98.8 MMst reported in the second quarter of 2025." "The electric power sector accounted for about 90.5% of the total U.S. coal consumption in the second quarter of 2026." "In the second quarter of 2026, coal stocks grew to 145.5 MMst from 137.8 MMst at the end of the first quarter of 2026 (a 5.6% increase)." "Stocks in the electric power sector increased to 118.3 MMst from 110.9 MMst at the end of the first quarter of 2026."^[2]

Status of the numbers. "All data for 2024 and previous years are final." "All data for 2025 and 2026 are preliminary." Per the source note of Table ES-1, production comes from the Mine Safety and Health Administration's quarterly mine employment and coal production report (Form 7000-2), imports and exports from Census Bureau trade reports, and consumption and consumer stocks from EIA surveys of power plants and other coal users.^[1][2]

Supply vs use (losses and unaccounted for). "'Losses and unaccounted for' is calculated as production plus imports plus waste coal supplied minus the change in producer and distributor stocks minus consumption minus exports minus the change in consumer stocks." ES-1 prints this item only for full periods: 9,490 thousand short tons for January-June 2026. Applying the definition to each quarter gives 4,742 for January-March and 4,748 for April-June (this page's calculation), which add up to the published 9,490. In this report, no breakdown of the balancing item is provided.^[1]

Production vs consumption. In April-June 2026, production (125,350) exceeded consumption (88,783), exports took 26,847, and consumer stocks rose by 7,650 (this page's calculation from the end-of-quarter levels). Year to date, production was down 1.3%, exports up 8.2% and consumption down 10.8% from January-June 2025 (this page's calculations). In this report, no explanation of these changes is provided.^[1][2]

Estimated vs reported stocks. Producer and distributor stocks for every 2025 and 2026 quarter carry an asterisk for estimated values, including October-December 2025, while the table note says: "Beginning with 1999, the first three quarters of producer and distributor stocks data for each year are estimated." Most of the total consists of consumer stocks (122,913 versus an estimated 22,619 thousand short tons in producer and distributor stocks); all 2026 data remain preliminary.^[1]

Highlights vs table. The highlights' 125.4, 26.8 and 88.8 MMst are ES-1's 125,350, 26,847 and 88,783 thousand short tons rounded, and the 5.6% stock increase matches this page's sum of the two stock columns. Regional production, export prices, import origins and electric power sector stocks quoted in the highlights come from other tables of the report that are not read here, and they are cited to the highlights only.^[1][2]

First quarter data note. The report page, as shown when retrieved at 01:16 KST, carried the note "First-quarter coal production data were unavailable at the time of publication." ES-1 as read here includes 131,870 thousand short tons for January-March 2026; in this report, no statement is provided of when that figure was added. Because all 2025 and 2026 data are preliminary, the quarterly figures can change in later issues, and in this report, no numeric error measure is provided.^[2]