Colombian coal exports in 2013 dropped 1% on the year to 76.652 million mt, according to data late Friday from the country's statistics agency DANE.
Colombia's 2013 export sales in 2013 fell 14% on the year to $6.687 billion FOB, DANE data showed.
Platts' weekly FOB Colombia 6,000 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal price shed about 12% from the start of 2013 to $70.50/mt on December 27.
It was last assessed at $70.90/mt Friday.
The Colombian coal industry had been affected by a number of incidents during 2013, which included miner strikes at its two largest thermal coal producers Cerrejon and Drummond in early and late 2013 respectively.
Drummond exports were also paralyzed for a month at the start of 2013 due to a coal spillage accident while trying to rescue a sinking coal barge in January.
At the same time, coal transport via the Fenoco rail line, which services 85% of thermal coal exports, were restricted to reduce noise pollution between February and March.
In contrast, Glencore Xstrata-owned Prodeco started exporting coal from its 21 million mt/year Puerto Nuevo terminal, which opened in April, allowing it to produce 26% more on the year to 18.6 million mt, according to data from the miner.
DANE data showed that in December, Colombia exported a monthly record high of 8.957 million mt, 54% up on the year and 33.6% higher than November. The country sold $771.031 million FOB of its coal exports, its highest since October 2012 and 36.2% up on the year.
Colombia's national mining agency ANM said 2013 coal production dropped 4% on the year to 85.5 million mt, but rose 18% on the year to 3.8 million in the fourth quarter of the year.
