Today, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Yancoal First Quarter 2025 production report. At this time, all participants will listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Brendan Fitzpatrick, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Maggie, and thank you to everyone on the call for joining this briefing on Yancoal's First Quarter production report for 2025. We have several members of Yancoal's executive leadership team to recap the quarter and participate in the question and answer session. On the call today, we have Mr. Yue, our Co-Vice Chairman and Acting CEO, Kevin Su, Chief Financial Officer, David Bennett, EGM Operations, Mark Salem, EGM Marketing, Laura Zhang, Company Secretary, Mike Wells, EGM Finance, Mark Jacobs, EGM Environment and External Affairs, and Sharif Burra, EGM Health, Safety, and Sustainability. The commentary provided today is based on the quarterly production report published to the Australian Securities Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on the 17th of April.
Normally, we host this call the day after the release of the production report, but this quarter we elected to wait until after the public holiday weekends here in Australia. There is no presentation pack for this conference call. The Yancoal website holds past presentations for any participants who require additional information on the company. I'll hand over to our CFO, Kevin Su, to provide the first quarter highlights.
Thanks, Brendan. I also welcome everyone joining us on this conference call, especially anyone here for the first time following our inclusion in the ASX 200 index six months ago. We had a strong first quarter with raw coal and attributable saleable coal volumes above targets. This is a contrast to the past two years, which started slower and increased throughout the year. After the first three months, we are well positioned to deliver a strong operational performance in 2025. During the quarter, we mined 15.2 million tons of raw coal, which is 11% more than the first quarter last year. We delivered 9.5 million tons of attributable saleable coal, which is 8% more than the first quarter last year. The full year production and the cash cost guidance we issued in February is unchanged.
We are targeting 35-39 million tons of attributable saleable production at a cash operating cost of $89-$97 per ton this year. As with past quarters, we do not include cash operating costs in the quarterly report, but I can say we remain comfortable with the full year guidance. Although coal prices have trended lower, we were able to add $136 million to our cash balance after all operating capital expenditure, tax, and corporate overheads. We finished the quarter with a cash balance of $2.6 billion. However, I should note that we will use $687 million to pay the $0.52 per share fully funded final dividend for 2024 on 30th April 2025. Yancoal operates some of the lowest cost mines in Australia. These mines have delivered positive cash flows even during cyclical downturns in coal prices in recent years.
We are in a strong financial position, which leaves us well placed to take advantage of opportunities that may present during the cyclical downturn. I'll now hand over to David Bennett, our Executive General Manager of Operations, to expand on the operational performance.
Thanks, Kevin. Our total recordable injury frequency rate was 6.46 at the end of March, an improvement over the prior quarter. Although the rate is below the industry weighted average of 7.5%, we remain committed to improving our performance and lowering the rate further through targeted safety intervention activities. When we set the production guidance for 2025, we forecast the first quarter to have lower production due to factors related to mine sequencing and maintenance schedules, including two longwall moves, one each at Moolarben and Ashton. We were able to complete both longwall moves ahead of schedule and were back in production by early February. The open-cut mines experienced minor weather disruptions during the quarter, which is typical for this time of year. However, we finished the quarter on a positive trajectory, which sets us up well for the remainder of the year.
During the quarter, our mines produced 15.2 million tons of raw coal, 12.5 million tons of saleable coal on a 100% basis, and 9.5 million tons of attributable saleable coal. As Kevin mentioned, these volumes were 8% to 11% higher than the first quarter last year. At Moolarben, the early completion of the longwall move, combined with better-than-expected dig rates from the mining fleet, higher yields, and strong equipment utilization in the open pit, accounted for the minor weather delays. Saleable coal production was down 4% from the first quarter 2024. The two Hunter Valley open-cut mines both performed well, with saleable coal production up by at least 25% compared to the first quarter 2024. At MTW, drag line volumes exceeded budget, and reduced load and haul cycle times resulted in raw coal volumes running ahead of plan.
At HVO, better-than-expected truck utilization and operating hours contributed to increased raw coal volumes. In Queensland, Yarrabee closed out the period with strong raw coal and saleable coal production figures. Unfortunately, Middle Mount was impacted by wet weather, reduced wash plant throughput rates, and lower yields. The team at Middle Mount has developed a recovery plan to improve performance throughout the remainder of the year. Also, it is important to note that Middle Mount is equity accounted, so its volumes sit outside the production guidance we provide. I'll now hand over to Mark Salem, our Executive General Manager of Marketing, to provide highlights on the coal sales and coal markets.
Thanks, Dave. Our attributable sales volume was 8.4 million tons, with a typical mix of our thermal and metallurgical coal products. As Kevin and David have mentioned, we've had a good production quarter, but our sales volume was 1.1 million tons less than the saleable production. You might recall that last quarter we sold down our stockpiles to meet customer demand and to optimize the value of a backward-dated market. This quarter, saleable coal stockpiles were rebuilt to optimize blends and cargo assemblies. Cyclone Alfred also caused delays to vessel movements along the East Coast, which resulted in the timing of some shipments slipping from March into April. During the quarter, we observed strong supply and reduced short-term demand conditions in the international thermal and metallurgical coal markets. In prior quarters, we noted thermal coal markets appeared relatively balanced, and coal prices were trading in relatively narrow ranges.
However, more recently, international coal indices have steadily declined and finished the quarter near four-year lows. The average prices during the March quarter for the main indices we sell against were down between 11% and 24% compared to December quarter. The API-5 index averaged $76 per ton, and the GCNewc index averaged $105 per ton. The low volatile PCI index averaged $140 per ton, and the semi-soft index averaged $117 per ton. Although there was some relief from the softer Australian dollar, our realized prices tracked against these relevant indices. Our average realized thermal coal price was $145 per ton, and our average realized metallurgical coal price, $218 per ton. The overall average realized sale price was $157 per ton compared to $176 in the prior quarter. In the seaborne thermal coal market, we see underlying demand. However, downstream stockpiles remain elevated after a mild northern hemisphere winter.
Supply-side output remains steady, and increasing Chinese domestic production has caused the high stock levels. Though there has been some supply-side response to subdued price indices, with reduced exports from Colombia and Indonesia due to the export reference price policy, these events alone have not been sufficient to bring back the supply-demand tension. We would anticipate further supply-side response if coal indices remain at these levels. The metallurgical coal markets face weak demand stemming from an oversupply of steel in both long and flat product markets, which are typically used in construction and manufacturing, respectively. While there are indications that export volumes from the USA and Canada are starting to react to the low metallurgical coal prices, similar to thermal coal markets, the supply responses to date are yet sufficient to materially alter supply-demand balance. The current supply-demand balance and associated price response is reflective of previous coal price cycles.
I'll hand back to Brendan to coordinate the questions and session sessions, and thank you very much.
Thanks, Mark, and thanks also to David and Kevin for highlighting the drivers of the first quarter performance. Although coal prices have declined over the quarter, Yancoal continued to add cash to our balance thanks to our high-quality assets and the portfolio that we have, along with the dedicated effort of the people running the mines. We will now move on to the question-and-answer session, starting with questions from the phone, then moving on to questions submitted via the webcast. Maggie, could I please ask you to initiate the process for questions via the phone?
Thank you, Brendan. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Hi, Brendan. So far, we have no questions at the moment from the phone line. Would you like to do the webcast questions first?
Thanks, Maggie. I'll start with some webcast questions to give people an opportunity to submit via the phone lines. We'll start with a production question coming through. It's from Mark Patterson at Bell Potter. Mark asks, "With the longwall move at Moolarben where production bounced back from 4.1 million tons in the fourth quarter, but was still lower than the typical run rate because of the January move, given the clean run rate with clean coal seam access, could we expect production rates to move above 6 million tons per quarter? And what might that mean for cash operating costs?" As much as we can comment on that, David.
Yeah, thanks, Brendan. Thank you for the question. Look, you're right in saying that production from the Moolarben longwall in quarter one this year has increased on what we delivered in quarter four last year. Mining conditions, operating conditions at the mine at present are described as good in the longwall and for like in the development areas as well. We would expect to see production out of Moolarben continue to increase on an annualized basis. However, our annualized coal production is in line with our market guidance at the same time. In terms of the unit costs, like all of our mines, we have a focus on costs and a focus on volume. If we're able to reduce the costs and increase some volume, that will drive our unit costs in a positive, lower direction. Thank you.
Thanks, David. I see several questions on the topics of coal markets and coal prices. Let's start with the broad question. What can we say about the outlook for coal prices for this calendar year? Please, Mark.
Sure. Thanks, Brendan. Look, I think from a coal price outlook, as referenced in the script, we are in a downturn of the cycle. The coal industry, having been in it for over 37 years, I've lived through many cycles of high and low pricing, and we're currently in this downturn load cycle. As we go into Q2, we are entering what normally is a shoulder season in terms of the northern hemisphere spring, the wet season before we see some buying coming back for the summer. Until we see that movement, it's not unusual for Q2 prices to be lower. Until we see some movement going into the June-July period, it's very hard to predict what price forecasts will be. We've got some exogenous factors impacting coal prices at the moment with the uncertainty of the U.S. market due to the tariffs.
We've got the HBA impact on Indonesia, that pricing ceiling threshold from the Indonesian production or government that really has not had an impact on coal prices. We've seen some other coal producers come through with announcements of production cuts. Again, we haven't seen the market react. The market hasn't react because, in essence, there's been the softer demand due to the milder winter. High stockpiles exist in most of our importing countries, namely China and Japan. The supply is still very strong. We've had good production operations, as have many of our other competitors, especially in the Hunter Valley and the open-cut. We are in a downturn. I'm not going to be able to give any true forecasts because it's a very unpredictable and very dynamic market at the moment.
Thank you, Mark. Maggie, could we go back to the phone lines to check if any questions have come through?
Yes, no problem. As a reminder, please press star one one on your telephone keypad to line up for questions. That is, press star one one on your telephone keypad for the phone lines to queue up for questions. Hi, Brendan. So far, there are no questions at the moment.
Thank you, Maggie. We'll continue on with the webcast questions, focusing on the coal markets for the time being. What can we say in terms of China's coal production in 2025? Do we have a view on whether it will increase? What might that mean for imports of coal into China and the seaborne markets?
Yeah. Look, I can state in relation to Q1 published statistics at the moment that China's domestic production has increased by about 100 million tons quarter on quarter Q1 2024 to 2025. If that trend continues, China will be looking to produce in excess of 5 billion tons this year. Coupled with that, their demand is also still increasing due to their AI as well as EV requirements for electricity. We have seen a reduction in Indonesian imports into China due to the HBA. Australian exports have been able to gain on the back of that. What we're seeing is that the overall China domestic production is still maintaining exports or imports at a level similar to last year, if not just a little bit below quarter on quarter. China remains a market that we still have to watch very carefully. We're watching it very carefully.
I think from a Yancoal point of view, we're in a very good position because we have a lot of our long-term contracts already established in China. We're not in the spot market as active as we were in previous years. Those contracts are still being well performed. We haven't had any performance issues on any of those contracts. From a Yancoal point of view, I think we're very well placed. China remains a market that we must continue to watch.
Thank you, Mark. On that topic of Chinese domestic production, do we have a view on whether the increase in production was sufficient to satisfy the domestic demand? Do we have any insight into the price differential between Chinese domestic coal pricing and the imported coal, either past periods or more current periods? What might that mean for seaborne markets in the remainder of 2025?
Sure. Yeah, thanks, Brendan. Look, I think we're still seeing high stocks in China at most of the ports. We have seen over the period of the quarter, Chinese domestic prices fall. They have tended to plateau at the moment. Even though China production has been up year on year or quarter on quarter, even though we have seen China production up, prices have now basically plateaued. We're seeing some stability in Chinese domestic prices. Our API-5 index is very much, there's a high degree of relativity between the China domestic prices and the API-5 index. We have seen our API-5 index in a similar fashion plateau out at current levels. What we're seeing from an import side of things, as I referenced before, Australian imports are still quite strong.
Indonesian imports have come off in terms of China domestic requirements or China demand requirements. The ability for us to sell spot cargoes into China is still strong at the moment. They are coming into their summer purchasing patterns, coming into May. We are seeing a little bit more demand, but we have not seen prices reflect that due to the high stocks position.
Thanks, Mark. Looking at some of the other questions we have on the webcast, focusing on the operational elements for the time being, the question coming through, "Can we provide some breakdown on operating cash flows, CapEx, etc. for the first quarter?" What we typically say in regard to this is the tax payments are made on an ongoing monthly basis. They are consistent through the year. The capital expenditure for the full year is, give or take, roughly equal quarter by quarter. There are some lumpy elements during the capital expenditure profile, but on balance, it is spread through the year. The operating cash flows are reflective of the volumes. We have no financing costs. We are effectively debt-free. It is a very steady state cash flow profile the company has through the quarter and through the year. Looking to an extra question coming through on the operational aspects.
In the quarterly report, we said we expected the extension for the HVO mining license to come through shortly. If I could turn to Mark Jacobs to provide a comment on the status of that since the release of the quarterly report.
Thank you, Brendan. The HVO modification number eight was approved on Thursday morning. That extends HVO North's entitlement to operate up until 31st of December 2026. As we've mentioned previously, we are working on a more longer-term extension application, which is being progressed and is expected to be lodged towards the end of this year.
Thank you, Mark. I see a few questions coming through on the topics of dividends. Mindful that Kevin in his comments identified that the full-year final dividend for 2024 is about to be paid. Kevin, could I ask you to comment on the outward look for dividend and the management approach to allocation of dividends and other capital priorities?
Thanks, Brendan. As for dividends, the policy of dividends was well documented in the constitution, which is 50% net profit or 50% of raw cash flow, whichever is higher. We've been following this dividend policy. I just want to make a note here is the ultimate decision will be made at the board level, which is for something at the board level to decide balancing the other corporate priorities. That's the position from corporate management. Thanks.
Thank you, Kevin. On that topic of corporate initiatives, there are questions coming through on the topic of M&A. Is there any comment we can make? The comment is the one we've been making for some time now. We're in a very strong financial position. Kevin's highlighted the cash balance we're carrying going forwards, even after the payment of the upcoming dividend. We've identified that we are available and able to look at acquisitions. We constantly have our teams examining opportunities in the sector. We're mindful that the coal price is going through a downturn. We need to be judicious in how we utilize the cash until we know the profile of the coal price cycle over the coming months and quarters. We are in a very strong position to consider opportunities should they arise, as we mentioned in our comments earlier.
There are questions coming through with regards to specific transactions in the sector. Whilst there has been one or two transactions identified in the media, there's nothing specific to say until such a time as we're in a circumstance where it would be appropriate to comment. At this point, we have capacity, we have the capability, and we're looking at the opportunities on an ongoing basis. Maggie, could I turn back to you for one last check to see if there are any questions coming through on the phone line?
Yes, no problem. As a reminder, please ask the question by pressing star one one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. This is the last chance for phone line questions. Hi, Brendan. Unfortunately, we don't have any questions on the phone line.
Thank you very much, Maggie. I've cleared all the topics raised through the webcast. I'll now hand over to Kevin to provide some closing comments.
Thanks, Brendan. Thanks to everyone for making time to join us today on Yancoal's first quarter call. I want to reiterate a few key messages. First, we have started the year with a great first quarter and are well positioned to deliver a strong operational performance. Second, we have some of the lowest cost mines in the industry. Our ability to operate the mines with comparably low cash operating costs is a distinct competitive advantage during downturns in the coal price. Third, the scale and the quality of our assets drives the financial performance. With that frame, we have added another $136 million to the balance sheet in the past three months. We will hold about AUD 1.9 billion after the upcoming AUD 0.52 per share fully funded dividend payments.
This places Yancoal in a strong financial position and enables us to take advantage of opportunities that may present during the cyclical downturn. We look forward to speaking with you all again after we release our second quarter production report in mid-July. Have a great day.
Thank you, Kevin. Maggie, could you please conclude the call for us?
Thank you, Brendan. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect.