Total U.S. coal production for the week ended Aug. 4 grew 3.2% year over year to 15.9 million tons from 15.4 million tons, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

For the 52 weeks ended Aug. 4, production was 759.8 million tons, representing a year-over-year slump of 4.1%, while year-to-date coal output fell 2.7% year over year to about 443.9 million tons.

The western region's coal production for the week reached 9.0 million tons, decreasing less than 1% from the prior year period.

Data for the Western region covers Powder River Basin mines. Coal production from Appalachian mines totaled 4.1 million tons, up 12% from the year-ago week's 3.6 million tons.

The interior region's production increased 3.6% to 2.8 million tons, compared to 2.7 million tons a year ago. Interior region data covers mines in the Illinois Basin.

The EIA's production data is derived from rail carload estimates.