Xstrata’s profit increases by 86 percent in 2010

Tuesday, 08 February 2011
On February 8, Anglo-Swiss miner and coking coal producer Xstrata Plc issued its financial results for 2010, reporting that the restructuring activities undertaken during 2009 positioned it to benefit from a more favorable operating environment.
The attributable profit of Xstrata was $5.15 billion in 2010, recording an increase of 86 percent year on year thanks to stronger commodity prices. Its revenue saw an increase of 34 percent in 2010, increasing from $22.7 billion in the previous year to $30.5 billion.
Xstrata said it plans to pay a final dividend of 20 cents per share, reflecting a return to pre-crisis levels and confidence in the medium-term outlook.
"Looking ahead, leading indicators suggest that the US economy continues to find a reasonably solid track for recovery. In the eurozone, January data for the manufacturing and services industries reveal the fastest pace of expansion in nine months. Developing economies and China in particular appear set to continue to achieve wholly respectable high single-digit growth rates in 2011, albeit below 2010 levels due to the impacts of inflation and the proactive actions by governments to contain economic growth to within manageable levels," Xstrata CE Mick Davis said.
Tags: coking coal , raw mat , UK , Switzerland , Europe , Non-EU Countries , European Union , mining , fin. Reports , Xstrata(sourced:steel orbis)

China thermal coal price stable despite sea ice and int’l price hike

Jan 28, 2011

China's benchmark thermal coal price remained stable during January 19 to January 25 despite of the turbulence of sea ice and international price hike.
According to statistics released by Ocean Shipping Coal, China's benchmark thermal coal price averaged 774 yuan/tonne, up only one yuan from previous week. China's coal price remains in a downward trend which began since Dec 8 of 2010.
By January 16, the free on board (FOB) price for power coal at New Castle Port in Australia has jumped 4.9% on week to US$1 36.3/tonne, and that of coking coal up 5.7% to US$280/tonne.
Bohai has been covered by ice, which is supposed to block coal imports of China and further push up domestic coal price.
However, the international coal price hike and the bad weather seemed to pose little impact in China's domestic coal price.
The stability in coal price in China despite of international price hike is mainly attributed to smooth throughput at major ports in north China, which has effectively guaranteed stable coal supply to south China.

Experts forecast that coal supply and demand in coastal market will maintain flourish until the Chinese Spring Festival in February, and power plants would have stable coal supply if the weather will not deteriorate into a substantial hinder to disrupt coal transportation from northern coal producing provinces to major coal consumers in the south.

But considering the approaching of Chinese Spring Festival on February 3, China may have to face mounting transportation in railways, which may affect coal transportation. Therefore, insiders predicted that China's coal price is very likely to maintain at high level and grow up further in February. (sourced:Xinhua)

Floods forces Asian steel mills to look elsewhere for coking coal

Wednesday, 26 Jan 2011

Japanese and South Korea have been seeking alternative suppliers of coking coal for their steel mills since the scale of the Australian floods became apparent earlier this month.
Japanese steel mills, which last year secured more than 50% of their coking coal from Australia, are looking to North America, Africa and Indonesia. South Korea is the second-biggest importer of Australian coal after Japan.

Mongolia which has just begun to tap the world's second biggest coal seam is also expected to be a threat to Australia's market share.
Chinese imports of coking coal increased from 6.85 million tonnes in 2008 to 34.49 million in 2009. But with the world's biggest coal reserves, China, the world biggest steelmaker, has only recently become a coal importer.
Galaxy Futures analyst Ms Liu Huiru said that Australia provided about 38% of China's coal imports. She said that "Along with the recovery of the international economy, China will face competition from other countries in demand for coke. Imports from Australia, the US and Canada might decrease, while imports from Mongolia might increase, and the same with Russia.”
Mysteel.com analyst Zhu Xi'an said that major coking suppliers in China's coal producing provinces of Shanxi and Hebei had raised prices about CNY 100 (USD 15.40) a tonne since the start of the year, especially since news of the floods spread.
He said that "So far the floods are a short term effect, but if the situation in Australia does not improve by March the market here might have a stronger response."

(Sourced from The Australian)