* U.S. coal offers dry up, replaced by Russian
* Utilities unfazed by Danube river blockage
LONDON Feb 9 (Reuters) – Freezing weather continued
to drive up gas and power prices but coal values fell again
because utilities have more coal than they need and stockpiles
are close to full, utilities and traders said.
Gas and power demand has surged across Europe due to the
severe cold weather, but utilities, traders and producers are
offering very prompt cargoes of Russian and multi-origin coal
and finding few buyers.
“What’s interesting is there are quite a few offers of March
delivery cargoes and you have to wonder why – were these sold
previously and somebody’s backed out or was everybody assuming
China would come back in early February and buy?” one major
utility source said.
The prompt DES ARA market on Thursday was predominantly made
up of Russian cargoes rather than multi-origin and it is unusual
for utilities to offer Russian-only cargoes so visibly.
“You’re not going to get a premium any more for Russian coal
but to see Russian-only rather than multi-origin cargoes which
often turn out to be Russian shows they need to get rid of it,”
one European trader said.
Ice has blocked the river Danube in south Germany to inland
waterways barges which move coal from the main import terminals
to the power plants along the Danube and Rhine but this had no
impact on prices, utilities said.
Continued…
