PEABODY Energy Corp, the largest US coal producer and a major Australian player, has cut production in the face of reduced world demand.
But Peabody's cutbacks - which didn't include the swathe of job cuts announced this week by its US aluminium compatriot Alcoa - suggested demand for its products had not slumped by anywhere near the amount that has led Alcoa and Rio Tinto to take the axe to jobs across their international operations.
And they came as China - whose economic slowdown has seen commodity demand plummet - said growth in its demand for the likes of iron ore, aluminium and copper, would continue to outstrip domestic output significantly in future years.
That meant, according to a Ministry of Land and Resources report, a return to a high reliance on imports - something that will all but certainly eventually lead to a resurgence in commodity prices from recent dampened levels.
Peabody said yesterday its US coal production, largely for domestic power generation, would be 190 million to 195 million tonnes, down from about 200 million tonnes in 2008.
St Louis-based Peabody said Australian shipments, from five mines in Queensland and six in NSW, would probably decline to 22 million tonnes from about 24 million last year - with metallurgical coal production expected to fall by up to two million tonnes.
China is all but self-sufficient in metallurgical coal. But its iron ore demand is forecast to exceed 1.3 billion tonnes in 2020, and requirements for refined copper and aluminum are projected at 7.3 million to 7.6 million tonnes and 13 million to 14 million tonnes respectively.
The Land Ministry said China would probably still be importing 40 per cent of its iron ore requirements and 70 per cent of the copper it needs in 2020.
Meanwhile, China which isn't a metallurgical coal inporter but does import thermal coal is aiming to increase its coal production by about 30 per cent by 2015 to meet its energy needs.
Annual production of natural gas is also targeted to more than double to 160 billion cubic metres by 2015, while that of crude oil will increase by 7 per cent to more than 200 billion tonnes.