Saturday, 10 Mar 2012
Reuters reported that prompt physical steam coal prices fell slightly by around 25 cents a tonne on Friday as buyers pulled back and in line with weaker oil values. Brent crude fell 57 cents to USD 124.77 a barrel on Friday after key US jobs data beat expectations, lifting the dollar broadly to multi month highs against other currencies.
TRADES
An April loading Newcastle cargo traded at USD 105.00 a tonne on globalCOAL.
PRICES
A May South African cargo was bid at USD 103.25, down 25 cents with no offer
An April DES ARA cargo was offered at USD 98.00, unchanged
A May DES cargo was bid at USD 96.50 and offered at USD 98.90, down 40 cents
An April FOB Newcastle trade at USD 105 a tonne on globalCOAL was seen as a sign of current weakness because the last trade three weeks ago was at USD 120.
Australian producers usually try to defend the visible Newcastle prices in the run up to annual term contract talks with Japanese utilities and these have only just started. Xstrata is seeking at least USD 120 and hoping for USD 125, a level which may be unattainable with spot prices considerably below that.
FOB Richards Bay prices have come under less pressure because supply remains tight and stockpiles low but South African prices have followed the general trend down since the start of the year.
Source - Reuters
Showing posts with label FOB Newcastle prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FOB Newcastle prices. Show all posts
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Euro Coal-Prices dip despite oil steadying
Sunday, Dec11, 2011
* Danube water levels rise
* Japanese start term contract talks
LONDON (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal prices dipped slightly on Friday after a week of limited activity which left coal tracking oil and currencies while fundamentals took a back seat.
Oil prices steadied at around $108 on Friday after the euro zone agreed closer fiscal union to save its currency.
Coal trading activity has already fallen off considerably ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays - both end-users and suppliers have squared their books and have little appetite for new business, traders and utilities said.
Aside from some Indian tenders for supply through 2012, there has been little evidence of consumer buying interest this week in either Europe or Asia.
Water levels on Germany's Danube river have recovered to levels which allow fully-loaded barges to sail but unless there is an unexpectedly harsh winter, utilities said they are unlikely to buy more spot coal in December and January .
China, the key spot buyer this year, is still enquiring for prompt cargoes but new deals are not being done.
Stockpiles remain high at Chinese ports and there is a lot of wrangling between suppliers and importers over who pays the hefty demurrage costs for vessels forced to wait before discharging cargo, suppliers said.
Chinese thermal coal inventories are currently around 16 days and utilities are not in urgent need of supply .
Australian coal prices FOB Newcastle have remained flat at around $111 a tonne and are likely to remain at that level or drift slightly lower over the holiday period.
Negotiations between Japanese utilities and Australian suppliers for term contracts have already begun and suppliers are in no rush to settle because spot prices are $20 below the current 2011 contract price which was a record $129.85.
"A lot of people are already on holiday and that's reflected in the lack of bids and offers in Europe. The market's looking rather weak in the Atlantic and Pacific, it's been supported by oil and little else recently," one major European trader said.
"Chinese buyers are still enquiring and there is still some buying taking place," another trader said.
PRICES
A January loading South African cargo was bid at $101.50 and offered at $102.75, down 50 cents on the offer. A February South African cargo was bid at $100.00 and offered at $102.75, down $1.00 on the bid. A January delivery DES ARA cargo was offered at $110.50, down $1.00. A February DES ARA cargo was bid at $111.25 and offered at $111.75, down 25 cents.
(sourced Reuters)
* Danube water levels rise
* Japanese start term contract talks
LONDON (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal prices dipped slightly on Friday after a week of limited activity which left coal tracking oil and currencies while fundamentals took a back seat.
Oil prices steadied at around $108 on Friday after the euro zone agreed closer fiscal union to save its currency.
Coal trading activity has already fallen off considerably ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays - both end-users and suppliers have squared their books and have little appetite for new business, traders and utilities said.
Aside from some Indian tenders for supply through 2012, there has been little evidence of consumer buying interest this week in either Europe or Asia.
Water levels on Germany's Danube river have recovered to levels which allow fully-loaded barges to sail but unless there is an unexpectedly harsh winter, utilities said they are unlikely to buy more spot coal in December and January .
China, the key spot buyer this year, is still enquiring for prompt cargoes but new deals are not being done.
Stockpiles remain high at Chinese ports and there is a lot of wrangling between suppliers and importers over who pays the hefty demurrage costs for vessels forced to wait before discharging cargo, suppliers said.
Chinese thermal coal inventories are currently around 16 days and utilities are not in urgent need of supply .
Australian coal prices FOB Newcastle have remained flat at around $111 a tonne and are likely to remain at that level or drift slightly lower over the holiday period.
Negotiations between Japanese utilities and Australian suppliers for term contracts have already begun and suppliers are in no rush to settle because spot prices are $20 below the current 2011 contract price which was a record $129.85.
"A lot of people are already on holiday and that's reflected in the lack of bids and offers in Europe. The market's looking rather weak in the Atlantic and Pacific, it's been supported by oil and little else recently," one major European trader said.
"Chinese buyers are still enquiring and there is still some buying taking place," another trader said.
PRICES
A January loading South African cargo was bid at $101.50 and offered at $102.75, down 50 cents on the offer. A February South African cargo was bid at $100.00 and offered at $102.75, down $1.00 on the bid. A January delivery DES ARA cargo was offered at $110.50, down $1.00. A February DES ARA cargo was bid at $111.25 and offered at $111.75, down 25 cents.
(sourced Reuters)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Australia Newcastle thermal coal falls to USD 117 per tonne
Saturday, 29 Oct 201
Bloomberg reported that power station coal prices at Australia Newcastle port, an Asian benchmark dropped 0.2% in the week ended today.
According to the globalCOAL NEWC Index coal prices at the New South Wales port declined to USD 117.89 per ton from USD 118.10 the previous week.
Xstrata Plc the world largest exporter of power-station coal, BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group are among mining companies that ship coal through Newcastle.
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
Bloomberg reported that power station coal prices at Australia Newcastle port, an Asian benchmark dropped 0.2% in the week ended today.
According to the globalCOAL NEWC Index coal prices at the New South Wales port declined to USD 117.89 per ton from USD 118.10 the previous week.
Xstrata Plc the world largest exporter of power-station coal, BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group are among mining companies that ship coal through Newcastle.
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
CME to launch two new thermal coal swap futures contracts
Thu Sep 1, 2011
SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The CME Group will launch two new over the counter thermal coal swap futures contracts, it said on Thursday, in a move seen aimed at tapping a market keen to hedge price volatility, with key buyer China likely to adopt a more flexible pricing mechanism.
The two contracts, China coal swap futures and Coal Newcastle FOB, will have a lot size of 1,000 tonnes each and will start trading on Sept. 12. Both will be financially settled, CME said in statement.
China, the world's second biggest importer of both thermal and coking coal after Japan, bought 81.6 million tonnes of thermal, or power-station coal, in 2010, accounting for 11.4 percent of the global market.
China imported 44 million tonnes of metallurgical, or steelmaking coal, or 17.7 percent of the world market, last year.
Market participants believe China will move towards index pricing and the new swap contract could be used as a tool to hedge price volatility, a coal broker based in Hong Kong said.
"Index pricing is a natural progression - obviously there is a lot of resistance to it, as there was in iron ore. Right now, the coal buyers can never see them buying on an index but it is the way forward.
"More and more Indonesians are proposing moving towards floating prices. The Chinese may get there - it isn't going to be easy. Index pricing started in Europe five years ago. Two years ago no Indians would buy South African coal on the index but now 90 percent are doing so," the broker said.
Contract pricing of iron ore, a key raw material in making steel, moved to a quarterly system last year after global miners abandoned a 40-year custom of negotiating annual contracts with steel mills.
The contract rates are based on average index prices which are provided by industry players including Platts, Metal Bulletin and the Steel Index.
Australia's thermal coal prices, a benchmark for Asia, have fluctuated since the March 11 earthquake in Japan as Japanese demand eased.
Thermal coal on the globalCOAL Newcastle index stood at just over $120 per tonne last week, much lower than the $140 a tonne seen in January, when prices were pushed up by flooding in Australia's eastern Queensland state.
Prices of hard coking coal are around $300 a tonne from about $200 a tonne a year ago, because of logistical bottlenecks and tighter supply due to the flooding that hit top producer Australia earlier this year.
The new contracts would bring to 16 the coal swap contracts cleared by CME. On Monday, Credit Suisse said it had completed the first ever coking coal swap transaction via a new contract, settled against the Platts Australian coking coal index, cleared by CME.
SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The CME Group will launch two new over the counter thermal coal swap futures contracts, it said on Thursday, in a move seen aimed at tapping a market keen to hedge price volatility, with key buyer China likely to adopt a more flexible pricing mechanism.
The two contracts, China coal swap futures and Coal Newcastle FOB, will have a lot size of 1,000 tonnes each and will start trading on Sept. 12. Both will be financially settled, CME said in statement.
China, the world's second biggest importer of both thermal and coking coal after Japan, bought 81.6 million tonnes of thermal, or power-station coal, in 2010, accounting for 11.4 percent of the global market.
China imported 44 million tonnes of metallurgical, or steelmaking coal, or 17.7 percent of the world market, last year.
Market participants believe China will move towards index pricing and the new swap contract could be used as a tool to hedge price volatility, a coal broker based in Hong Kong said.
"Index pricing is a natural progression - obviously there is a lot of resistance to it, as there was in iron ore. Right now, the coal buyers can never see them buying on an index but it is the way forward.
"More and more Indonesians are proposing moving towards floating prices. The Chinese may get there - it isn't going to be easy. Index pricing started in Europe five years ago. Two years ago no Indians would buy South African coal on the index but now 90 percent are doing so," the broker said.
Contract pricing of iron ore, a key raw material in making steel, moved to a quarterly system last year after global miners abandoned a 40-year custom of negotiating annual contracts with steel mills.
The contract rates are based on average index prices which are provided by industry players including Platts, Metal Bulletin and the Steel Index.
Australia's thermal coal prices, a benchmark for Asia, have fluctuated since the March 11 earthquake in Japan as Japanese demand eased.
Thermal coal on the globalCOAL Newcastle index stood at just over $120 per tonne last week, much lower than the $140 a tonne seen in January, when prices were pushed up by flooding in Australia's eastern Queensland state.
Prices of hard coking coal are around $300 a tonne from about $200 a tonne a year ago, because of logistical bottlenecks and tighter supply due to the flooding that hit top producer Australia earlier this year.
The new contracts would bring to 16 the coal swap contracts cleared by CME. On Monday, Credit Suisse said it had completed the first ever coking coal swap transaction via a new contract, settled against the Platts Australian coking coal index, cleared by CME.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Coal, Australian thermal coal Daily Price
August13,2011
Coal, Australian thermal coal, 12000- btu/pound, less than 1% sulfur, 14% ash, FOB
Newcastle/Port Kembla, US$ per metric tonne
As of: Friday, August 12, 2011
Month Price Change
Jan 2011 141.94 -
Feb 2011 137.53 -3.11 %
Mar 2011 135.14 -1.74 %
Apr 2011 131.25 -2.88 %
May 2011 126.84 -3.36 %
Jun 2011 127.80 0.76 %
Jul 2011 128.57 0.60 %
Source: globalCOAL
Coal, Australian thermal coal, 12000- btu/pound, less than 1% sulfur, 14% ash, FOB
Newcastle/Port Kembla, US$ per metric tonne
As of: Friday, August 12, 2011
Month Price Change
Jan 2011 141.94 -
Feb 2011 137.53 -3.11 %
Mar 2011 135.14 -1.74 %
Apr 2011 131.25 -2.88 %
May 2011 126.84 -3.36 %
Jun 2011 127.80 0.76 %
Jul 2011 128.57 0.60 %
Source: globalCOAL
Friday, April 1, 2011
Euro Coal-Rebounds $2 on strong oil, gas
Mar 31, 2011 4:38pm GMT
* No fresh trades reported
* Bids, offers remain specific, blocking trade
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Prompt European physical coal prices rebounded by around $2.00 on Thursday in line with stronger oil and gas prices.
Oil prices rose by over $2 on Thursday, touching $117.70 a barrel as Middle East supply worries led concerns [O/R].
Gas prices will stay under pressure for the balance of the year due to the amount of Liquified Natural Gas arriving in Europe but gas will also respond to rises in the general energy complex, as was the case on Thursday, traders said.
Both bids and offers were again very specific with certain origins and ports only.
"You have to wonder if anybody wants to actually trade or are they putting numbers out there which they know aren't going to be hit," one trader said.
End-user demand in Europe has been limited this week and tends to be so at this time of year as utilities begin switching into gas from coal-fired generation.
But there are so many opposing factors operating on coal prices at present that a lack of demand alone is not enough to pull coal lower, traders said.
Fundamental oversupply in the Atlantic and the Pacific (until Japan starts buying again) ought to trim FOB Newcastle spot prices and pull down FOB Richards Bay South African prices, traders and utilities said, but losses could be reversed by factors which have nothing to do with physical supply and demand.
"We're not super-bearish but it's normal for prices to drift a bit lower at this time of the year and I don't see a large number of end-user sellers out there," one large European trader said.
"The dollar could move sharply, oil could spike again - and gas is actually stronger today despite all the LNG coming to Europe," he added.
"Go figure, there are all these bearish LNG stories and the market's rallied more than $1.50 on the back of oil," another European trader said.
Two lines were closed by a derailment on Wednesday on the railway to Richards Bay Coal Terminal but the tonnage lost was unknown, industry sources said.
Rail operator Transnet Freight Rail said one of the closed lines will reopen on Friday.
A series of derailments resulted in a loss of around 3 million tonnes in December-February, exporter sources said.
South African coal has been predominantly shipped to Asia rather than Europe so the tonnage lost would tighten supply there, if anywhere, traders said.
TRADES
Two June loading Newcastle parcels traded at $119.25 a tonne on globalCOAL, down $1.00.
A June delivery DES ARA cargo traded at $125.05 a tonne via brokers, also down $1.00.
PRICES
A June delivery ARA cargo was bid at $127.25 and offered at $127.50, up $2.00.
A May DES ARA cargo was bid at $126.75 and offered earlier at $126.50, up nearly $2.00.
There had been a June ARA bid earlier on Thursday at $127.50 a tonne for 50,000 tonnes of South African only.
A May loading South African cargo was bid at $121.00 and offered at $121.75, up $2.00.
A June cargo was bid at $119.00, unchanged.
(Reporting by Jackie Cowhig)
* No fresh trades reported
* Bids, offers remain specific, blocking trade
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Prompt European physical coal prices rebounded by around $2.00 on Thursday in line with stronger oil and gas prices.
Oil prices rose by over $2 on Thursday, touching $117.70 a barrel as Middle East supply worries led concerns [O/R].
Gas prices will stay under pressure for the balance of the year due to the amount of Liquified Natural Gas arriving in Europe but gas will also respond to rises in the general energy complex, as was the case on Thursday, traders said.
Both bids and offers were again very specific with certain origins and ports only.
"You have to wonder if anybody wants to actually trade or are they putting numbers out there which they know aren't going to be hit," one trader said.
End-user demand in Europe has been limited this week and tends to be so at this time of year as utilities begin switching into gas from coal-fired generation.
But there are so many opposing factors operating on coal prices at present that a lack of demand alone is not enough to pull coal lower, traders said.
Fundamental oversupply in the Atlantic and the Pacific (until Japan starts buying again) ought to trim FOB Newcastle spot prices and pull down FOB Richards Bay South African prices, traders and utilities said, but losses could be reversed by factors which have nothing to do with physical supply and demand.
"We're not super-bearish but it's normal for prices to drift a bit lower at this time of the year and I don't see a large number of end-user sellers out there," one large European trader said.
"The dollar could move sharply, oil could spike again - and gas is actually stronger today despite all the LNG coming to Europe," he added.
"Go figure, there are all these bearish LNG stories and the market's rallied more than $1.50 on the back of oil," another European trader said.
Two lines were closed by a derailment on Wednesday on the railway to Richards Bay Coal Terminal but the tonnage lost was unknown, industry sources said.
Rail operator Transnet Freight Rail said one of the closed lines will reopen on Friday.
A series of derailments resulted in a loss of around 3 million tonnes in December-February, exporter sources said.
South African coal has been predominantly shipped to Asia rather than Europe so the tonnage lost would tighten supply there, if anywhere, traders said.
TRADES
Two June loading Newcastle parcels traded at $119.25 a tonne on globalCOAL, down $1.00.
A June delivery DES ARA cargo traded at $125.05 a tonne via brokers, also down $1.00.
PRICES
A June delivery ARA cargo was bid at $127.25 and offered at $127.50, up $2.00.
A May DES ARA cargo was bid at $126.75 and offered earlier at $126.50, up nearly $2.00.
There had been a June ARA bid earlier on Thursday at $127.50 a tonne for 50,000 tonnes of South African only.
A May loading South African cargo was bid at $121.00 and offered at $121.75, up $2.00.
A June cargo was bid at $119.00, unchanged.
(Reporting by Jackie Cowhig)
Friday, February 25, 2011
Australian FOB Newcastle coal bid up to USD 147 per tonne
Friday, 25 Feb 2011
Prompt physical coal prices rose around USD 2.00 on Tuesday following another hike in oil prices due to continued Libyan unrest but Australian FOB Newcastle prices soared to USD 147.50, up from a trade at USD 132 earlier in the day.
Newcastle FOB prices have risen by around $15.00 in the past 10 days on tight supply. Libyan unrest and rising oil prices have been the main drivers behind the general coal price rise but the Newcastle market seems genuinely tight and set for higher prices, far stronger than the South African or delivered Europe markets. Australian coal supply is still recovering after floods earlier in the year and producers as well as end-users and traders are seeking prompt cargoes. This was helping to keep Newcastle prices firm before the violent protests erupted in Libya.
VTB Capital Research said that "Prices rose 40% due to Queensland flooding and have now consolidated, but with increased Chinese and Indian demand likely in the remainder of the year, we think the market will tighten further and move higher again. A lot of companies we've never heard of, Indian and Chinese firms mostly, have been in the market looking for South African, Indonesian, Australian coal, at cheap prices because they don't believe the current Newcastle numbers.”
Newcastle FOB prices have risen by around $15.00 in the past 10 days on tight supply. Libyan unrest and rising oil prices have been the main drivers behind the general coal price rise but the Newcastle market seems genuinely tight and set for higher prices, far stronger than the South African or delivered Europe markets. Australian coal supply is still recovering after floods earlier in the year and producers as well as end-users and traders are seeking prompt cargoes. This was helping to keep Newcastle prices firm before the violent protests erupted in Libya.
VTB Capital Research said that "Prices rose 40% due to Queensland flooding and have now consolidated, but with increased Chinese and Indian demand likely in the remainder of the year, we think the market will tighten further and move higher again. A lot of companies we've never heard of, Indian and Chinese firms mostly, have been in the market looking for South African, Indonesian, Australian coal, at cheap prices because they don't believe the current Newcastle numbers.”
Annual Japanese price settlements are widely expected to match or even exceed 2008's record USD 125 per tonne FOB because the Pacific market is set for tight supply and strong demand overall this year More than 8% of Libya's 1.6 million barrels per day of oil production has been shut down by the political violence and the country's marine terminals were disrupted by a lack of communications Physical coal supply and demand has been unaffected by events in Libya shipping has not been disrupted and Libya neither exports nor imports coal.
Traders and utilities said that but the coal market is sometimes extremely sensitive to moves in other energy markets, particularly oil, and that is the case at present because there are still many players with long positions to defend against slumping prices.
One European market source said that "It's all Libya again, Libya and higher oil prices which means higher coal prices but hardly anybody's buying coal.” (Reuters)
Tags: VTB Capital Research, Chinese, Indian demand
Traders and utilities said that but the coal market is sometimes extremely sensitive to moves in other energy markets, particularly oil, and that is the case at present because there are still many players with long positions to defend against slumping prices.
One European market source said that "It's all Libya again, Libya and higher oil prices which means higher coal prices but hardly anybody's buying coal.” (Reuters)
Tags: VTB Capital Research, Chinese, Indian demand
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