By Stephen Huba

June 13, 2019 - Almost all U.S. coal production is consumed for electric power, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Monday.

Nearly all of the coal consumed in the United States is produced domestically, and most is consumed by the electric power sector to generate electricity, EIA said.

In 2018, of the more than 755 million short tons of coal produced in the United States, the electric power sector consumed 636 million short tons. The industrial sector consumed nearly 50 million short tons, and the U.S. exported another 115 million short tons, EIA said.

Coal accounted for 16% of the energy produced in the United States in 2018, EIA said.

Not all coal produced in the United States is consumed domestically. Coal production typically exceeds consumption, and the U.S. has been a net exporter of coal since 1949, the earliest year of EIA’s coal trade data series.

A report recently commissioned by the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance found that of the 47.2 million tons of bituminous coal produced in Pennsylvania in 2017, 58% was used for electric power generation.