The Illinois Basin market continues to wilt as low spot demand and ongoing production leaves more tons on the ground and anxious producers with more to sell, market sources said Friday. “We’re at the point where it’s no longer rhetoric to say we’re going to leave coal in the ground rather than sell at these prices,” one producer said. While there have been some indications of production discipline — notably Murray Energy’s recent announcement that it would lay off some Illinois Basin employees as well as rumored production cutbacks at some other basin mines — the market is still dealing with oversupply. “We haven’t been in the market for some time,” one utility source said, adding that low power and gas prices are keeping them out of the IB market. “We’re long this year, building our stockpiles.” Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key […]