Coal Prices - A Quick Rundown
Met Stabilizing as Thermal Coasts into Shoulder Season
As we close yet another week of pretty much zero news or meaningful trading activity hitting the tape in the coal markets, there’s little else to do but to assess where prices are, where they’ve been, and where they’re likely to go here over the coming weeks.
We’ve had a few data points come in that look supportive - ARA coal stockpiles in particular point to a potentially “decent” shoulder season for thermal coal. But others, like China steel exports, indicate that the met market isn’t quite out of the woods just yet, especially as their met coal imports and comparatively low stockpiles suggest the country’s steel industry has been trying to produce its way out of the doldrums.
In my experience, making something for $400 and selling it for $375, then trying to make up the difference on volume isn’t such a great idea. But the CCP clearly has different ideas…
Before we hit the paywall, though, I wanted to let you all know there are some development plans in the works for the Sub-Bituminous Stack here and the website as well. I’ve had a lot of questions on thermal coal markets as of late, and I intend to expand coverage on it, with designs to augment both free and paid tier subscriptions.
Most of my day-to-day work this year, however, has been firmly entrenched on the metallurgical coal side, and on long term analysis to boot. Because of that, we may have a “guest Coal Trader” or two come over and sit in every now and again to help cover that market…we’re in the very early stages, but I’m excited to get to work on it, and will keep you all posted on developments.
Also, now that my schedule is beginning to settle down, I think it’s time for us to look at beginning to do some periodic interviews with industry and finance professionals. While I certainly do like talking about my own perspectives, I’m just one guy…and there are incredibly diverse views that deserve to be heard all up and down the supply chain, as well as in adjacent industries such as finance and insurance.
Not to mention it’ll be fun…now on to the prices!