Thursday, February 03,
There has been a sudden rise in Australia’s thermal coal prices. Prices climbed more than $US127 a tone, underpinned by ongoing impact of floods in Queensland supplies.
“It’s definitely very tight, the flood has already had its impact no doubt about it, it’s tight on the ground and most people feel it” one trader source said.
Floods in Queensland have already caused about 5.5 million tones of Australian’s production loss according to Reuter’s poll conducted last week.
Supplies from neighboring Indonesia are also restricted with some Indonesian coal traders declaring force majeure after a trade rule change with around 60-70 vessels stuck in the various ports and 3.5 million tones unable to be shipped.
Although Queensland produces mostly coking coal used for steelmaking it does produce some thermal coal & any severe weather change could cause further production losses & reduce supplies.
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