Singapore 12 December 2014
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp and Anglo American have agreed the premium hard coking coal benchmark at $117 per tonne fob Australia for the first quarter of 2015, multiple sources told Steel First.
The benchmark price for coking coal exported from Queensland was $US111.25 a tonne this week, down almost 15 per cent over the past year but like thermal, steady over the past month.
RBC expects coking coal prices to improve to average $US128 a tonne in 2015, and lift further to $US148 a tonne in 2017.
"In our view a recovery in [coking] coal is likely to be restricted by some medium-term supply growth, moderating demand growth expectations, and an ongoing lowering of the cost base of major producers," the bank said in a research note.