Montana's Governor and a dozen business representatives from here are wrapping up a four-day trade mission to Taiwan and South Korea Friday. They're coming home to some bad news: the state's coal exports to Asia are being cut back.
Cloud Peak Energy says it is reducing the amount of coal it's shipping to Asia, starting next year. All U.S. coal exports have fallen by half over the last three years. Governor Steve Bullock's four-day trade mission accomplished several new business deals and partnerships, but none of them involved coal.
"There is certainly demand for Powder River Basin coal," said Bullock. "One of the challenges is that whereas three years ago it would've been selling for $120 a ton right now over here it's about $50 ton, so it's more a matter of world prices and economics, I think, that drive part of this."
No coal industry delegates joined the Montana trade mission. Bullock says coal producers were approached, but none of them signed up for it.
The governor spoke from Seoul as he was getting ready for the final day of the trip. The agenda called for Korean and Montana officials to sign an agreement to cooperate on researching new sources of energy.
"We all need to recognize that energy portfolios and mixes are changing so we have to be doing all we can to work and invest in the opportunities to research new technologies," Bullock continued. "And better ways to use existing technologies. Today's (signing) will largely involve I think our university systems and the Korean Energy Research Institute."
One business deal that was sealed on the trip gives a Bozeman company, Resonon, a new distribution outlet in Taiwan for its industrial imaging equipment. The trade group included representatives of Montana's manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture industries.
