Coal news and updates

Coal Exports Fuel Australia’s Gaping Trade Surplus

Australia’s bulging trade surpluses are holding up despite the bursting of a price bubble in iron ore — the nation’s largest export — as energy shortages helped send coal prices soaring and boosted the value of shipments of the fossil fuel.

Australia’s trade surplus came in at A$11.2 billion ($8 billion) in October, even as iron-ore export values plunged 23% from a month earlier and were down almost 40% from a peak in July. Coal export values jumped 14% from September, Thursday’s figures showed.