MELBOURNE—Macarthur Coal Ltd., the world’s biggest shipper of pulverized coal used to make steel, said first-half profit declined 68 percent as port constraints curbed exports from Australia.

Net income fell to A$13.5 million ($12.6 million), or 7 cents a share, for the six months ended December 31, from A$42.4 million, or 23 cents, a year ago, the Brisbane-based company said Wednesday in a statement. That’s at the lower end of its November estimate.

Coal prices have soared to records as flooding of mines and congestion ports and railroads in Australia curbs exports from mining companies, driving down profits and restricting global supply. Record rainfall will cut output this quarter and may affect production in the next three months, Macarthur said Wednesday.

“The company, operationally, is struggling,” said Sophie Spartalis, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in Sydney, who has an “underperform” rating on the stock. “Infrastructure is contributing to the downside risk, but in the near term it’s the impact of the rain.”

Macarthur fell as much as 56 cents, or 4.8 percent, to A$11.20 and was A$11.86 at 2:23 p.m. Sydney time on the Australian Stock Exchange. The stock has gained 21 percent this year.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, Xstrata Plc. as well as Macarthur are among companies that closed or reduced output in Queensland after the rains. Cash prices for coking coal used in steel making rose to as much as $270 a metric ton, the Tex Report said February 5, almost triple the contract price.

“A total of 682 millimeters [26.8 inches] of rain fell at the Coppabella mine from early December 2007 until January 31, 2008,” Macarthur said in the statement to the exchange. “This is more than the average rainfall for the mine.”

Macarthur declared force majeure in January because of the weather and has cut its full-year output forecast to 4 million metric tons from 4.5 million tons. Force majeure is a legal clause that allows a company to miss deliveries because of circumstances beyond its control.

“It will be difficult to achieve the target, but we can achieve it if doesn’t continue to rain,” Nicole Hollows, chief executive officer, said in a media teleconference Wednesday. “We have more water in the open pits than we do in the dams.”

The company shipped less coal from Queensland’s Dalrymple Bay, Australia’s second-biggest coal-export harbor, because of expansion work at the port and lower export allocations aimed at reducing the shipping queue, it said. Exports from the port in 2007 reached a four-year low, the company said. It couldn’t provide a full-year profit estimate, partly because of congestion at Dalrymple Bay and the weather outlook.

About 90 percent of Macarthur’s output is pulverized coal, used in a steel-making process called pulverized coal injection. (Bloomberg)

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