The company's latest accounts reveal the Anglo American coal business made $996 million in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation in the half year to June 2019 compared to $1.64 billion in 2018.
Looking at the Anglo metallurgical coal operations in Australia alone, underlying EBITDA decreased 19% to $934 million, owing to a 7% decrease in sales volumes and a 4% reduction in the realised price for metallurgical coal.
US dollar unit costs increased 3% to $68/tonne as a result of lower production due to a planned extended longwall move at the Moranbah North mine in Queensland.
Metallurgical coal production decreased 7% to 10 million tonnes, driven by the timing of a longwall move and the preliminary upgrade of the wash plant for the Moranbah and Grosvenor mines.
The company's thermal coal in South Africa caused its underlying EBITDA to decrease 88% to $40 million, driven by a 27% decrease in the realised export thermal coal price.
