World coal and UK energy policy: A company level perspective

Abstract

As a contribution to the debate about the future of the UK coal industry this paper provides an overview of the corporate structure of the world coal industry, detailing company diversification, ownership, transnationality, concentration of production and profitability. Its main argument, which has a strong bearing on coal import policy, is that whereas the world coal industry and international trade currently exhibit all the signs of overproduction, hypercompetition and declining profitability, there is no reason to assume that this is a stable scenario. The company structure of the export sector variously indicates a potential for supply disruption, cost escalation and informal collusion, all of which have implications for the future level of prices — particularly as the market tightens once so-called ‘marginal’ producers like the UK are knocked out of the market.