Coal Rises in Asia, Europe as Supply Drops in Australia, China

(Bloomberg) — Coal rose to a record in Asia and also advanced in Europe as floods in Australia and snow storms in China restricted output, spurring generators to secure supply.

Anglo American Plc today said operations have resumed at five South African mines shut Jan. 25 because of power shortages. Coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, jumped 3.9 percent to a record $93.35 a metric ton in the week ended Jan. 25, according to globalCOAL. European coal advanced to a two-week high.


“It’s difficult to see in the next 18 months to two years who would have the capacity to significantly increase supply,” Graham Chapman, managing director at Richmond, U.K.- based consultant Energy Edge Ltd., said by telephone today.

In Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, Macarthur Coal Ltd. and Wesfarmers Ltd. said they wouldn’t be able to meet contract supplies from some mines in Queensland state after heavy rain. China ordered domestic coal shippers to halt exports after heavy snow and rail congestion shut supplies to 5 percent of the country’s coal-fired generators.

Bloomberg