Australia May Lose 10 Million mt of Coking Coal


Coking-coal miners in Australia may lose at least 10 million metric tons of output because of flooding, Bloomberg reported. That’s equal to about 8% of Australia’s annual coking coal exports, based on 2006 data. This month’s weather forced Macarthur Coal Ltd., the world’s biggest coal exporter, and Wesfarmers Ltd. to declare force majeure. Producers including BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, the world’s largest coking-coal exporter, are in talks with buyers to set annual prices. International prices for hard coking coal were set at $92/mt to $98/mt for the current year, which ends in March.
As featured in Womp 08 Vol 1 - www.womp-int.com