Australia's Whitehaven Coal warned on Tuesday that weather conditions would put pressure on both metallurgical and thermal coal prices in the near term, while reporting a 5% sequential decline in its third-quarter production, ahead of analysts' expectations.
Parts of the northeastern Australian state of Queensland experienced heavy rainfall during the March quarter.
"Recent weather-related supply disruptions and possible supply curtailments may create some upward price pressure," Whitehaven said in its statement.
Thermal coal, Whitehaven's primary product, is used for electricity generation while metallurgical is used in steel production.
The coal miner recorded managed run-of-mine (ROM) coal production of 9.2-million metric tons for the three months ended March 31, compared with 9.7 million tons reported in the previous quarter.
The production exceeded a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 8.5-million tons.
The Narrabri mine, the company's only underground operation, reported a 31% fall in ROM production due to equipment failures, which took time to resolve, resulting in decreased output.
The overhaul move, which started in April, would take around eight weeks to complete, leading to lower production and sales volumes from the mine in the second half of fiscal 2025, the miner added.
Operations in Queensland — consisting of the Daunia and Blackwater mines — saw a 3% drop in ROM production during the March quarter to 4.5 million tons.
The Daunia mine's output for the period declined by 18% from the previous quarter, largely due to excessive rainfall in Queensland.
Blackwater mines, however, shrugged off seasonal weather woes to produce higher coal for the quarter.
Whitehaven acquired both the Daunia and Blackwater mines from global miner BHP for $4.1-billion in 2024.
Shares of Whitehaven were up 3.8%, hitting a two-week high, as of 00:59 GMT. 