Total U.S. coal production for the week ended Dec. 14 fell 18.4% year over year to 12.7 million tons from 15.6 million tons, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

For the 52 weeks ended Dec. 14, production totaled 707.8 million tons, down 6% compared to the previous 52-week period, while year-to-date coal output dropped 6.4% year over year to 677 million tons.

The western region's coal production for the week totaled 6.9 million tons, down 21.8% from the prior year's 8.8 million tons. Data for the western region covers Powder River Basin mines.

Coal output from Appalachian mines totaled 3.5 million tons, dropping 14.6% year over year from 4 million tons.

The interior region's coal production fell 13.4% to 2.4 million tons. Interior region data covers mines in the Illinois Basin.

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