North American coal producers and shippers should expect a “U-shaped” recovering in the metallurgical coal market, not a V-shaped one.

That’s one of the messages Joe Aldina, a New York-based coal analyst for Wood Mackenzie, has for coal industry leaders attending the Coal Association of Canada’s two-day conference, which started on September 11 in Vancouver.

According to the provincial government, accounting for 27,000 jobs, Metallurgical or coking coal is BC’s single largest bulk export.

Miners and shippers in BC took a major hit earlier this year, when a global glut forced major producers in BC to either idle coal mines or postpone planned restarts.

Several hundred BC coal miners have been laid off as a result of closers by Walter Energy Inc.