AP reported that coal mining companies from Appalachia to Missouri are seeing plenty of rebounding demand, just not in this nation.

Fresh from reporting third quarter earnings, coal producers said that Asian economies are increasingly hungry for energy even as the hardest hit mining regions in the US see little prospect for a comeback in coming months.

Big coal producers such as St Louis based Peabody Energy and Arch Coal said that the rising demand for metallurgical coal, a key ingredient in steelmaking, is largely a foreign phenomenon.

Last week, Alpha Natural Resources said that it is planning to raise production 1 million tonnes next year, and CEO Mr Kevin Crutchfield said that orders are starting to come in from Eastern and Western Europe.

Producers have now idled enough US mines to trim approximately 100 million tonnes of coal, roughly 9%, from production this year. Hundreds of miners in West Virginia, Kentucky and other key coal states have lost their jobs.

(Sourced from Associated Press)