* June DES ARA trades at $97.00/T
* China is back as a spot buyer of long-haul coal
LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) – European physical coal prices
rose by around 25 U.S. cents to $1.00 a tonne on Thursday in
line with oil’s gains on a weaker dollar but slightly higher
prices drew out more offers of prompt U.S. cargoes, traders and
utilities said.
High coal inventories in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp and at
power plants plus the continual flow of previously-bought coal
into Europe mean the market is oversupplied although most
utilities – outside Scandinavia – have a fairly healthy coal
burn at present.
“Bids and offers were 40-60 cents apart but nobody was
prepared to move so little traded but prices have moved slightly
higher and there are more U.S. offers,” one trader said.
Coal prices for DES ARA cargoes have nudged close to $100 a
tonne but both the short and medium-term outlook are uncertain,
utilities and traders said.
China is back in the spot market actively seeking prompt
cargoes of Colombian, South African, U.S., Russian, Australian
and Indonesian coal and weighing up the cheapest offers,
suppliers said.
“We’ve had two buyers come back to us this week with serious
enquiries so the Chinese are now definitely back but it remains
to be seen how much they buy, it could be slow to take off,” one
producer said.
Chinese importers are bidding at around $114-$115 a tonne
delivered, which can work for long-haul coal cargoes if sellers
are willing to accept a slim margin.
Continued…
