* Korea East West Power buys 400,000 t Aussie, U.S. coal
* China coal prices to fall in 2012 – power exec
LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – Prices of prompt physical coal
were largely unchanged on Monday as it struggled to find
direction from its own fundamentals or from other markets,
traders and utilities said.
“It’s been illiquid, no demand for the front months but no
real appetite to sell it either, and no direction from oil,
currency or power today,” one utility source said.
Asia – particularly, China and India – are absorbing some of
the high-sulphur U.S. coal being sold at heavy discounts but
sellers are still awaiting a resumption of Chinese buying of
standard grade coal to bring more balance to the market.
South Korea’s East West Power has bought 400,000 tonnes of
Australian and U.S. coal for delivery in June-August
, having just awarded a tender for six capesize
cargoes of Colombian coal.
But China could remain out of the spot market for another
couple of months or more, if forecasts of weaker domestic prices
prove true.
China’s domestic prices could fall further this year as the
country’s economic growth slows, a top Chinese power company
executive said on Monday.
Wang Yu Jun, Chief Executive Officer of state-run China
Resources Power Holdings Co Ltd 0836.HK] said spot prices have
fallen sharply and the trend will continue.
Continued…
