Whitehaven Coal’s first-quarter output rises nearly 22%

Oct 23 (Reuters) Australia s Whitehaven Coal reported about a 22% rise in ​first-quarter output on Friday, ‌driven by resilient production in its Queensland operations and volume recovery at its New ‌South ​Wales mines. The ⁠country s top independent ⁠coal miner reported managed run-of-mine coal production of 11 million metric tons for ​the three months ended September 30, up ⁠from 9 million ⁠tons a year ​ago. That beat the Visible Alpha ​consensus estimate of 9.5 million ‌tons. The company earned A$226 per metric ton of coal sold in the ⁠quarter, compared with an average of A$188 a ton last year. The ⁠temporary ‌impact of sales ⁠slippages and elevated ​inventories ‌is expected to unwind ​in ⁠the second quarter, Whitehaven said. (Reporting by Keshav Singh Chundawat and Jasmeen Ara Shaikh in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Pooja Desai)