Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Commodity Price Risk
We are exposed to commodity price risk on sales of coal. We sell most of our met coal under contracts primarily with pricing terms of three months and volume terms of one to three years. Sales commitments in the met coal market are typically not long-term in nature, and we are, therefore, subject to fluctuations in market pricing.
We enter into natural gas swap contracts to hedge the exposure to variability in expected future cash flows associated with the fluctuations in the price of natural gas related to our forecasted sales. As of December 31, 2021, we had natural gas swap contracts outstanding with notional amounts totaling 6,100,000 metric million British thermal units maturing in 2022. Our natural gas swap contracts economically hedge certain risk but are not designated as hedges for financial reporting purposes. All changes in the fair value of these derivative instruments are recorded as other revenues in the Statements of Operations. All of our derivative instruments were entered into for hedging purposes rather than speculative trading.
We have exposure to price risk for supplies that are used directly or indirectly in the normal course of production, such as diesel fuel, steel, explosives and other items. We manage our risk for these items through strategic sourcing contracts in normal quantities with our suppliers. We historically have not entered into any derivative commodity instruments to manage the exposure to changing price risk for supplies.
Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject us to a concentration of credit risk consist principally of trade receivables. We provide our products to customers based on an evaluation of the financial condition of our customers. In some instances, we require letters of credit, cash collateral or prepayments from our customers on or before shipment to mitigate the risk of loss. Exposure to losses on receivables is principally dependent on each customer’s financial condition. We monitor the exposure to credit losses and maintain allowances for anticipated losses. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 we did not have any allowances for credit losses associated with our trade accounts receivables.
Interest Rate Risk
Our Notes have a fixed rate of interest of 7.875% per annum and are payable semi-annually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year.
Our ABL Facility bears an interest rate equal to SOFR, plus a credit adjustment spread, ranging currently from 11 bps to 43 bps, or an alternate base rate plus an applicable margin, which is determined based on the average availability of the commitments under the ABL Facility, ranging currently from 150 bps to 200 bps or 50 bps to 100 bps, respectively. Any debt that we incur under the ABL Facility will expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates increase significantly in the future, our exposure to interest rate risk will increase. As of December 31, 2021, assuming we had $132.0 million outstanding under our ABL Facility, a 100 basis point increase or decrease in interest rates would increase or decrease our annual interest expense under the ABL Facility by approximately $1.3 million.
Impact of Inflation
COVID-19 continues to impact global supply markets and supply chains, resulting in shortages, extended lead times and increased inflation impacting our operations and profitability. We are applying a number of different strategies to mitigate the impact of these challenges on our operations, including extending our demand planning, placing purchase orders earlier, utilizing short term contracts and leveraging our supplier relationships. While inflation may impact our revenues and cost of sales, we believe the effects of inflation, if any, on our results of operations and financial condition have not been significant. However, there can be no assurance that our results of operations and financial condition will not be materially impacted by inflation in the future.
Except for the change in our long-term debt from a fixed rate obligation to include a variable rate obligation discussed above and the broader negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and major financial markets, there have been no other material changes to our exposure from market risks.
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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The information required by this item appears beginning on page F-1 following the signature pages of this Annual Report.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.