The company’s adjusted earnings fell to $C328 million ($US319 million) from $544 million in the previous corresponding period.

The lower adjusted profit was mainly due to the 28% decline in coal prices to $161 per tonne.

Teck warned in February that the demand for coal would be soft for most of 2013 but revealed in its Q1 results on Tuesday that despite relatively weak market conditions and repairs at Westshore terminals, it achieved all-time record Q1 coal sales of 6.6 million tonnes.

The Vancouver-based company said it had agreements to sell 5.4Mt of coal in Q2 at an average price of $US154/t and it expected total Q2 sales to be at least 6Mt.

Revenue from operations fell around 9% to $C2.33 billion, with coal revenue falling a substantial $138 million, again on lower coal prices.

Coal production, however, remained stable compared to the same period last year, with the company planning to produce around 24.5Mt of coal this year.

As of March 31, the company had about $2.95 billion cash in the bank.

“I'm pleased with our performance so far this year," Teck president and chief executive officer Don Lindsay said.

“Sales of steelmaking coal were up 24% over the first quarter of 2012, a new record for first quarter sales, while sales volumes for copper and zinc were similar to last year despite various operational challenges.

“However, with continuing uncertain global economic conditions, prices for all of our major products were down compared to the first quarter of last year, resulting in lower profits and cash flows.”