The St Louis-based producer said it continued to target full-year 2013 sales of 230-250 million tons.

The company said it would include 33-36Mt from Australia, 180-190Mt from the US and the remainder from trading and brokerage activities.

Peabody's targeted 2013 Australia volumes include 15-16Mt of metallurgical coal, 11-12Mt of seaborne thermal coal and 7-8Mt of domestic thermal coal.

In the US, the company said it was essentially fully priced for coal for 2013 delivery, with 70-80% priced for 2014 based on expected 2013 production levels.

The company is targeting 2013 capital spending levels of $350-450 million, after reducing the target by $100 million earlier in the year.

“Peabody continues to be focused on cost containment and tight capital discipline,” chairman and chief executive officer Greg Boyce noted in the company’s second quarter earnings call.

“Peabody is reducing 2013 Australian cost targets to the mid-$70 per ton range, with 2013 US costs per ton expected to be 2-3% lower than last year.”

Some of the cost reduction initiatives included savings from multiple owner-operator conversions in Australia as well as productivity improvements at its pulverized coal injection operations, a drop in contractors, temporary labor and overtime to streamline operations and efforts across the supply chain to reduce costs of materials and supplies.

Peabody continues to target third quarter 2013 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $US210-270 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of as much as 9c.

“Adjusted EBITDA targets reflect expected seasonal increases in US volumes, carryover geologic issues in Australia and lower coal pricing,” Peabody said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.

Peabody also continued to expect 2013 depreciation, depletion and amortization levels approximately 10% higher than 2012 levels, it said.

Despite recording a 56% loss in profit, the global coal giant reported better than expected results for the second quarter thanks to a lower tax-rate and considerable cost cutting.

For the period ended June 30, the producer reported revenues of $1.73 billion, down 13% on a drop in pricing.

Declines in Australian prices were offset in part by a 5% rise in volumes, though US revenues of $970.9 million felt the year-on-year impact of the pricing slump along with a larger percentage of western US shipments.

Australian sales totaled 8.6Mt, including 4.1Mt of metallurgical coal and 2.6Mt of seaborne thermal coal.