Here's an article stating the lower quality coal is suffering more than the higher quality: (excuse the formatting)
Shares of Patriot Coal were deep in the red Tuesday after the miner cut its outlook for steelmaking coal sales
volumes, citing a potential default by a key customer. The company now sees sales in the second quarter through the fourth
quarter of 3.9 million tonnes at an average price of $142 a tonne, compared with a May 8 projection of 4.9 million tonnes at
$138 a tonne. Patriot also revised its 2013 forecast for Appalachian metallurgical coal to 200,000 tonnes at $122 tonne from
400,000 tonnes at $120 previously. At least two brokerages cut their price targets for Patriot following the news. With one
analyst stating, "The implications for the stock are negative, as current spot prices are well below the prices at which the
volumes were contracted," adding, "Unfortunately, this event confirms our thesis that there continues to be an oversupply of
lower quality North American met coal and that most likely only premium quality producers will experience the benefit of
recently increasing prices for benchmark quality met coal." Reuters noted that demand for high-volatile met coal, which is low
quality, is weak, while higher grades of coal are increasingly sought after by steelmakers.
Cheers
B4