Prices of Coal and Other Bulk Commodities Surged Significantly

19 Jan 2010 • by Natalie Aster

It is reported that steam coal price firstly broke U.S.$100 per ton for more than one year. The heavy snow in the northern areas of China affected the works of mining and railway transportation, the cold weather accelerated China to turn from exporter to import and caused spot price surge straightly.

It is noted that Shanxi shut down many illegal and unsafe small coal mines and China began to import dramatically to make up for the gap. Except Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, China started to import coal from distant areas and firstly bought coal from Colombia in January this year. Analysts believed that China's net import of steam coal was 50mln tons in 2009, greatly changed compared with 70-80mln tons of net export in 2005. At the same time, as India gradually expanded the power generation, the import demand of steam coal will maintain strong this year, therefore, the price will hike further. This week, affected by the increasing demand and the tight supply, the spot price of steam coal climbed to U.S.$105 per ton in Australian market, recorded high since November of 2008.

With the surge of the steam coal price, the bulk commodities such as iron ore and coking coal will climb significantly.

Source: MetalBiz

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