Coal-miner Macarthur Coal has reported a 15.3% increase in coal sales for the year ended Jun, reaching the record figure of more than 5.3-million tonnes.

This was ahead of the guidance range of between 4.8-milllion tonnes and five-million tonnes, and an increase on the 4.6-million tonnes sold in 2009.

The miner said on Jul 28 that the improvement on an annual basis could be attributed to improved economic conditions during the financial year, the selldown of high opening coal stocks, increased production at both its mine sites, and the use of excess infrastructure capacity through the Goonyella corridor.

Total sales of 1.3-million tonnes were recorded during the final quarter ended Jun 30, and this was an 11% reduction on the sales compared with the corresponding period in 2009.

Macarthur said that the sales for the Jun 2009 quarter had achieved record levels, owing to the sell down of coal stocks to nontraditional utility customers during the global financial crisis.

However, sales for the quarter ended Jun were higher than expected, owing to the improved loading performance at the Darymple Bay coal terminal, which led to the loading of vessels earlier than scheduled.

Macarthur said that this resulted in total sales from the Coppabella and Moorvale joint venture (JV), in Queensland, increasing to 5.26-million tonnes for the year.