* Oct DES ARA trades at $87.05/T
* Chinese stimulus may not boost coal imports-trade
LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Physical coal prices were little
changed again on Friday at around $90 a tonne, a level many
players consider to be high given the dearth of spot demand
globally.
Three Q4 delivery DES ARA cargoes traded at $87.05, $92.50
and $92.35, down 30-50 cents from Thursday’s levels.
Spot prices slid to two-year lows in June and have partially
recovered since then but the discounts to index prices sought
have deepened from $1-$2 below the API2 index to $5-$7,
suppliers and end-users said.
The level of discounts or premiums in dollars a tonne to
fixed, index prices can be a more accurate measure of the
strength of the market than fixed prices, which are often
stagnant and range-bound.
“Steady prices of $90 or more with almost nobody buying are
hard to believe in when the discounts being talked are so wide,”
one European trader said.
The market remains split over the outlook for the balance of
the year, with the cautious bulls predicting a resumption of
Chinese imports following China’s green light for $150 billion
of infrastructure projects to stimulate its slowing economy
.
Shares and steel futures contract prices jumped on the plans
to build roads, ports and airport runways but many projects were
already in the pipeline and as a share of GDP they will not do
much to offset the weakness in exports.
Continued…
