Demand for metallurgical coal appears to be gradually recovering – with steel output mostly recovered in India and South Korea and picking up in Japan, providing support for hard coking coal. Meanwhile supply cuts in thermal coal markets has stemmed the downward pressure on prices while demand has started to pick up
again.
As a result, coal spot prices have trended higher in recent weeks – with hard coking coal reaching SU$140 a tonne in early October (from US$107 a tonne in mid August), while thermal coal rose more modestly.
Hard coking coal prices are forecast to average US$128 a tonne in 2020 and US$136 a tonne in 2021, while thermal coal is forecast to average US$59 a tonne in 2020 and US$62 in 2021.
Source: NAB Group Economics
