Oct. 27--ST. LOUIS -- Shares of Patriot Coal Corp. soared Tuesday after the company reported improving demand for coal used in steelmaking.

As of 1:25 p.m., shares of Patriot were changing hands at $13.18, up $1.99, or 18 percent, from Monday's close. The shares traded as high as $14.07 a share before yield some of the earlier gain.

Creve Coeur-based Patriot sold 1.5 million tons of so-called metallurgical coal in the third quarter, or 500,000 tons more than it sold during the previous three months.

"We continue to see signs of strength in the metallurgical coal market as domestic steel mill utilization has improved for 25 consecutive weeks," CEO Richard M. Whiting said in a statement.

Patriot, one of the largest producers of coal in the eastern U.S., said third-quarter profit fell 26 percent to $52.8 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $71.2 million, or 99 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

Results included an accounting gain on coal contracts related to the company's July 2008 purchase of Magnum Coal Co. Excluding the gain, Patriot recorded a net loss of 45 cents a share, just better than the 47-cent a share loss predicted by analysts.

Patriot's sales rose 3 percent to $506.2 million as higher realized coal prices more than compensated for lower output.

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