Coal Prices CrashPERTH, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australian thermal coal prices, a
benchmark for Asia, declined for the fourth straight week to a
six-week low of about $160 a tonne, tracking losses in the oil
market and weighed down by thin trade.
Producers and traders said that although the recent fall in
coal prices has drawn some Asian utilities to seek more coal,
many of the tenders were unsuccessful as most of the suppliers
were still seeking prices above market levels.
Thermal coal prices fell $14.30 from a week earlier to
$160.40 a tonne, the globalCOAL's NEWC weekly index showed in
the week ended August 1, based on prices at Australia's
Newcastle port, the world's largest coal export terminal.
The price is a the lowest since June 14, when the index
stood at $160.23 a tonne.
"There was some renewed buying but most of those tenders
failed because buyers and sellers couldn't agree on price,"
said a Sydney-based trader.
"Suppliers think that the recent fall in coal prices is
largely caused by a sell-off by financial institutions and that
the current index doesn't truly reflect the market. But buyers,
of course, are thinking otherwise."