For the week ended January 4, the EIA said late Thursday that US coal operations produced a total of 18.8 million tons, a result 5.8% higher than the prior week and up 2.1% from the comparable 2013 weeks.

Mines east of the Mississippi River, the agency’s split point, totaled 7.3Mt for the week while western coalfields operations had 11.5Mt produced.

Year-to-date, however, was not off to a good start; US production totaled 10.5Mt, of 8% less than the comparable 1013 year-to-date period.

For the month of December, the EUA reported total production of 82.8Mt, a figure 3.2% higher for the same month in 2012.

Again using the mighty Mississippi as a division point, eastern coal production totaled 34.6Mt while western coal tonnage came in at 48.2Mt.

The EIA will release data for the week in progress on January 16.