Japanese buyers of seaborne coking coal will have to pay a higher price for their January-March volumes in comparison with the preceding quarter, with the emergence of fresh supply concerns last month leading to an uncertain outlook for prices in the coming quarter.
Metal Bulletin's fob Australia Premium Hard Coking Coal Index averaged $236.07 per tonne over the December-February period, up 23% compared with $191.93 per tonne during the September-November stretch. Japanese buyers are set to price their March-quarter volumes using the average of a basket of premium hard coking coal indices during the December-February period. The higher traded levels over the last three months have mainly been a result of tight supply, which supported prices in February despite the absence of China, the largest buyer in the spot market, for a large part of the month. Metal Bulletin's fob Australia premium hard coking coal index stood at $235.84 per tonne on Tuesday March 6, compared with $216.94 per tonne on February 1. Aurizon throughput While much of the supply concerns over the past three months stemmed from long vessel queues at Australia's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, they have now moved further upstream.The...