LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) – Coal trading in Europe was thin
on Thursday, with reports of only one trade, as the market held
back to observe the events around a gas leak in the North Sea
and while mild weather and substantial stocks kept demand low.
One South African cargo for delivery in June was bought at
$108 a tonne, according to GLOBALcoal data on Reuters, a level
that was up slightly from recent trades.
With the possibility of an explosion on a large North Sea
gas platform, traders said nobody wanted to be caught on the
wrong side of an energy market that could panic in the case of a
major explosion.
“An event like that would impact the entire European energy
sector, including coal prices,” one trader said.
Demand for physical coal deliveries, meanwhile, remained low
as a result of mild weather and healthy stockpiles across large
parts of Europe.
In the UK, fourth-quarter 2011 coal imports increased by
almost 25 percent compared with the same period of 2010, while
production for the period fell by almost 14 percent, according
to data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein)
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