Coal news and updates

Coal price rally loses steam as China, India step up supply

Coal prices have dropped to below $200 a metric tonne as tightness in the market is easing with India ramping up supply and China intervening in prices.

Newcastle coal futures at ICE Futures Europe for delivery in November dropped 4.26% on Friday to $165/tonne. Coal prices had traded at highs of above $200/tonne in the past several weeks as global demand outstripped supply.

“Coal prices continued to retreat amid signs of improving supply and government policies,” said analysts at ANZ Research in a note on Friday.

“The Indian government said that supply of coal to thermal power plants has been rising consistently. China’s Shanxi province, its leading coal-producing region, has boosted production,” ANZ Research noted.

India’s Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said as cited by United News of India that state-run miner Coal India has successfully stepped-up coal supply to meet increased demand. Coal supply delivered to Indian power plants now reaches 2.2 million tonnes a day, Joshi said as quoted by the media.

Meanwhile, China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, sought to set the price of its most-popular 5,500-net as-received (NAR) grade coal at 440 yuan ($68.81) a tonne at the pit-head, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The plan aims to ease a power crunch, which was partly caused by surging coal prices.