The company announced that Coalsales president Bryan Galli and Coaltrade International president Paul Demzik will take on greater responsibilities in their respective seats while still reporting to Peabody president and chief commercial officer Richard Navarre.

Galli will be in charge of all coal sales, including US and Australian metallurgical, thermal and industrial products. Additionally, his oversight of market analytics and contract administration will continue.

Peabody’s coal sales arm in Australia will now report to Galli instead of Demzik.

Demzik, in turn, will now handle all of Peabody’s trading and marketing across its five continents of operation, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Australia and Venezuela.

Brokerage and trading functions in the US will report to Demzik instead of Galli.

"Bryan and Paul will continue to expand our global sales and trading activities to serve traditional markets as well as high-growth emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region," Peabody chairman and chief executive Gregory Boyce said.

He noted both had brought record results as the producer grew its interests internationally.

Peabody also cited its “expanding platform” of metallurgical and thermal mines in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales.

“The company is rapidly increasing its trading activities in the Asia-Pacific region, including developing a new Southeast Asia coal trading, brokerage and sourcing hub, planned for either Hong Kong or Singapore, to augment offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Beijing, London, Venezuela and the United States,” officials said.

The company also has joint venture and business development activities underway in China, Mongolia, Australia and other countries.

Galli, a 25-year industry veteran, has been president of Coalsales since 2006 and has served in several other senior positions, including group executive for Midwest operations and vice president of the Midwest sales and marketing division.

Demzik, meanwhile, entered the Peabody fold as Coaltrade International president in 2005.

Prior to joining the producer he served as head of coal trading for London-based EDF Trading Limited. He has more than 25 years of trading experience.

According to Peabody statistics, the company marked record coal sales of 256 million tons and $US6.6 billion in revenues last year.