Coal news and updates

Coal prices soften in the first week of December

December 9: Spot coal prices showed mixed trends in the week ended December 6 as rates were up in Australia and Indonesia, while the same were down for South Africa.

In the coking coal market, prices continued to ease and dropped by around $2-4/ton FOB Australia.

Freight rates showed further rise last week after a marginal increase in the previous week. In the currency market, the Indian rupee ruled firm versus the US dollar.

In the domestic market, Coal India Limited (CIL) reported healthier growth both in production and off-take in November 2013 compared to that in October 2013. However, the CIL performance was still below the monthly target.

Demand for coal remained buoyant and a few tenders, including that of Hindustan Newsprint Limited (HNL), were floated for imported steam coal last week.

India's imports of coal, including steam, coking, anthracite, PCI, pet coke and met coke through the 20 major and minor ports were up 4.37% to 2.868 million tons (mt) in the week ended December 6 compared to 2.745 mt coal recorded in the week ended November 29.

Overall, the market sentiment remains upbeat with the business segments reacting positively to the results of the state level elections in four Indian states, market sources said.