Poland-based coking coal producer Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA (JSW) has announced its financial and operational results for the first quarter this year.
In the given quarter, the company reported a net loss of PLN 9.7 million ($2.46 million), compared to a net profit of PLN 1.27 billion in the same quarter of 2023, while its total sales revenues came to PLN 3.4 billion ($862.96 million), up by 2.3 percent quarter on quarter, due to a significant increase in coke sales. Also, JSW’s EBITDA in the first quarter declined by 23.9 percent from the previous quarter to PLN 532.1 million ($135 million).
In the first three months of the current year, the company’s coal production amounted to over 3.1 million mt and its coke production exceeded 800,000 mt, decreasing by 7.5 percent and by 5.1 percent, respectively, both on quarter-on-quarter basis. Unpredictable mining and geological difficulties at the Borynia-Zofiówka-Bzie Ruch Borynia and Pniówek mines led to decreases in coal production in the given quarter.
“We are already planning actions aimed at improving profitability and stabilizing the financial situation. We need to optimize costs and increase production efficiency in all segments of our business. In the area of mining, our priority remains to restore the base level of production in our mines by reversing the effects of events and disasters from 2022-2023, which significantly impacted our production capacity in recent quarters,” Ryszard Janta, president of the management board of JSW SA, commented.
JSW had declared force majeure due to a fire which occurred on April 5 at its Budryk coal mine, which was expected to result in a production loss of 400,000 mt this year, as SteelOrbis reported previously.