EBITDA for the first three months of this year stood at PLN 532.1 million, down 23.9 percent from the previous quarter. In Q1 2024, the JSW Group generated a gross profit on sales of PLN 298.1 million. This notwithstanding, the Group posted a slight net loss of PLN 9.7 million in Q1 2024.
“The new Management Board of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa is aware of the responsibilities and challenges facing the JSW Group. We are already in the process of planning the measures necessary to improve the Group’s profitability and stabilize its financial standing. We need to optimize expenses and increase production efficiency in all segments of our business. In the mining area, our priority remains the restoration of the baseline level of output in our mines by reversing the effects of the events and disasters which occurred in 2022-2023 and significantly affected our production capacity in recent quarters,” said Ryszard Janta, CEO of JSW S.A.
During the first three months of this year, the Group produced a total of more than 3.1 million tons of coal and more than 0.8 million tons of coke, down 7.5 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, compared to the previous quarter. The reduction in coal production in Q1 2024 was due to the occurrence of unpredictable mining and geological difficulties, related to the tectonics of the deposit at the Borynia Section of the Borynia-Zofiówka-Bzie mine and the methane hazard at the Pniówek mine.
Total sales revenues surpassed PLN 3.4 billion, up 2.3 percent quarter-on-quarter. Coke sales increased significantly to nearly 1 million tons, which, at an average price of PLN 1,370.87 per ton, boosted revenues from sales of coke and hydrocarbons by more than 25 percent. This helped mitigate the consequences of the deterioration in the steam coal market resulting from the decline in demand, lower hard coal-fired power generation and increasing coal inventories held by mines and power plants. In Q1 2024, JSW S.A.’s sales of steam coal dwindled by more than 34 percent compared to the previous quarter, and the price of this commodity dropped by more than 19 percent to PLN 482.17 per ton. Revenues from sales of coking coal remained unchanged, with the average price of coking coal at PLN 1,058.97 per ton and the sales volume at 1,451.9 million tons.
As for the JSW Group’s capital expenditures, cash expenditures surpassed PLN 1.3 billion, or 12.3 percent more than in the previous quarter. These were predominantly expenditures on key development projects related to the opening of new deposits and mining levels, upgrades of coal preparation plants, modernization of coke oven battery 4 at the Przyjaźń Coking Plant and the construction of a unit of the Radlin CHP Plant at the Radlin Coking Plant.
The JSW Group is the largest producer of high quality hard coking coal and a significant producer of coke in the European Union, which an indispensable component in the steel production process. This year, coking coal was given the status as a critical raw material for the European economy for the fourth time. JSW Group is an active participant in the coking coal – coke – steel supply chain which is critical to the growth and transition of the economy. Steal is used in the manufacture of various key products, including wind turbines, machinery, vehicles (including electric ones) and building structures. The JSW Group’s operations are crucial to the transition and development of a climate-neutral economy.
