Exxaro said demand from Europe, which started to rise in late 2021 as customers switched from expensive natural gas to coal, had intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February and ahead of a ban on Russian coal, which came into effect this month.
Europe's share of Exxaro's exports grew five-fold during the second half of 2021 to 32% in the first half of 2022, becoming the company's single biggest export market.
South Africa's coal sales to Europe rose eight-fold during the first half of 2022 compared with last year, leading exporter Thungela Resources said on Monday.
However, South African coal miners' capacity to export has been limited by deteriorating rail infrastructure.
State-owned Transnet's rail network has been crippled by poor maintenance, a lack of locomotives and copper cable theft, which have diminished its capacity to haul minerals to port.
Despite the higher export prices, Exxaro exported 2.5 million tonnes of coal in the first half, down from 4.1 million tonnes a year earlier.
However, the average export price rose to $262 per tonne from $117, resulting in a 48% jump in revenue to 22.3 billion rand ($1.34 billion).
Exxaro's headline earnings per share - the main profit measure for South African companies - rose to 34.26 rand ($2.05) from 27.22 rand.
Exxaro declared an interim dividend of 15.93 rand, returning $334.09 million to shareholders.
($1 = 16.6542 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; editing by Tom Hogue and Jason Neely)
