Richards Bay
Export prices declined by US$1.15, or 1.4%, to US$82.95 a metric tonne in the week to March 12, according to IHS McCloskey. That’s before transport expenses and above the US$71.45 a tonne it costs for coal delivered to Europe. U.K. power companies’ stockpiles are 4.9% below record levels in September, according to government data.
“This is a clear sign of weakness in thermal coal demand in Europe,” writes Emmanuel Fages “’ an analyst in Paris at Orbeo, Societe Generale SA’s carbon-trading venture with Rhodia SA. “Asia has driven the coal market in the first quarter of 2010,” he says.
Richards Bay prices will rise 32% on average this year to US$84.60 a tonne, and the delivered price to Europe will gain 26% to US$87.50, according to Fages. Coal exports from the terminal fell 5% in February. Shipments dropped to 4.94 million tonnes from 5.2 million tonnes a year the previous year, the terminal said in a statement last week. At the February rate, the terminal would ship about 60.5 million tonnes this year.
