Coal News & Markets Summary

Mar. 17 - Mar. 24, 2024

Australian hard coking coal prices were down for the sixth week in a row. Both the FOB Australian index and CFR China index are now priced at $276/mt, down 5.3% on the week. Australian PLV spot prices are now at $245/mt.

• WoW: FOB Aus -2.8%, CFR China -2.8%

• MoM: Fob Aus -12.2%, CFR China -12.2%

• YoY: Fob Aus -22.0%, CFR China -17.4%

Despite the fall in premium coking coal prices, metallurgical price relativities remain widely dispersed, with the exception of Semi-Soft prices, which closed the gap with PCI:

Seaborne thermal coal indexes were mixed this week, consolidating on the rally caused by increased Russian export sanctions and associated worries of supply shortages:

• WoW: API2 +0.9%, NEWC -3.3%, S. Africa +0.9%

• MoM: API2 +21.4%, NEWC +0.9%, S. Africa +3.2%

• YoY: API2 -16.1%, NEWC -28.2%, S. Africa -24.4%

The Coal Trader Premium Updates ($)

• Upgrades & Downgrades (also linked here)

• Met Producer Comps (also linked here)

• As Met Markets Tumble, Where’s the Bottom (also linked here)

Launch of the Coal Portfolio:

• Refer here for The Coal Portfolio which tracks my long-term assessments re Equity Research.

Coming Soon from The Coal Trader:

I’ll be on vacation this week, but when I get back I’ll begin expanding the Equity Research Coverage:

• Adding to Equity Research Coverage

  • Corsa Coal (CSO.V)

  • Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AX)

Weekly News Summary

Here’s the weekly rundown of the most important Coal News and Market information which I’ve curated for free and paid subscribers.

Earnings Updates:

• Thungela delivers strong financial performance despite rail & price headwinds

• New Hope Group Announces Interim Financial Results

• Metinvest Update

Producers Making Moves:

• Australian Pacific Coal Puts in Equipment Orders for Dartbrook Restart

• Widjaja Family’s Consortium Seeks Private Credit for Illawarra

• New Hope asks NSW for Bengalla Extension

• Hallador Energy’s Sunrise Coal to Lay Off 112 Workers

• Cape Breton Coal Mine Closed by Roof Falls Allowed to Resume Year-Round Operations

• M Resources & GEAR plan funding round after $1.65B coal mine buy

Producers News:

• Whitehaven Coal (WHC) – why a re-rate is imminent

• Teck’s Elk Valley clean up could cost at least $4.7 billion

• Corsa Coal Faces Challenges Underground

• AES Will Convert Remaining Coal Units to Burn Natural Gas

• Thungela sets higher coal output target

• Change of guard at Taurus’ Queensland coal mine Foxleigh

Coal Updates:

• Coal News & Price Data – March 21, 2024 – Coking Coal Prices Finally Bottom?

• Summary of Chinese Coal Imports for February 2024

• More investors push Glencore to keep coal post-Teck deal

• Newcastle Prices Drop to near 1-Month Low

• China’s Imports of Russian Coal Slump as Import Taxes Bite

• Import price pains seen helping to stabilize China’s thermal coal mart

• China coal industry group expects output growth to slow in 2024

Steel Updates:

• World Steel Association Figures for February 2024

• China’s Blast Furnace capacity use rebounds to 82.79%

• China’s Steel Production Surges Despite Market Headwinds

• Steel Associations Across China Advocate Production Cuts to Stabilize Market Prices

• EU market participants call for production cuts to support HRC prices

• India’s steel majors to invest billions to meet buoyant local demand

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