Poland's Jsw Posts Second-Quarter Loss as Weak Coal Prices, High Costs Weigh

JSW Reports Larger Q2 Loss Amid Falling Coal Prices and Rising Costs

(Reuters) -Polish state-controlled coal miner JSW reported a net loss of 724.1 million zlotys ($198.99 million) for the second quarter late on Monday, compared to a loss of 6 billion zlotys in the same period a year ago.

The loss was bigger than the 658 million zlotys analysts polled by Reuters had expected, but an improvement after the 1.36 billion zloty net loss JSW reported in the first quarter.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

JSW, the European Union's largest producer of high-quality hard coking coal used to produce steel, has been struggling with rising energy costs and falling coal prices, and reported a 7.24 billion zloty loss for 2024 after writing down the value of its assets.

BY THE NUMBERS

JSW's revenue for the second quarter fell 17% year-on-year to 2.28 billion zlotys. Total sales of coal rose 15% on the year to 3 million tonnes, while total coal production rose 16.4% to 3.34 million tonnes.

KEY QUOTES

"The market has definitely not been in our favour in recent months," Ryszard Janta, president of the JSW Management Board, said in a statement.

"Uncertainty resulting from, among other things, growing protectionism, the deteriorating condition of the European and global steel industry, growing Chinese steel exports generating an influx of low-cost imports to Europe, and a more than threefold increase in Indonesian coke exports were the main factors shaping the market environment," he added.

($1 = 3.6388 zlotys)

(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert and Marta Maciag, Editing by Helen Reid)