I’m getting very different information. Citibank has upgraded...

I’m getting very different information.

• Citibank has upgraded its price forecasts for thermal and coking coal over the next two years
• It expects strong demand from southeast Asia and China, the world’s largest consumer
• Prices are likely to be supported by a sharp decline in new mine investment in recent years

Coal prices look set to stay higher for longer.

That’s the view of Citibank’s commodity research team who expect limited growth in Chinese coal output to underpin prices for both thermal and coking coal over the next two years.

“We now expect medium-term coal prices to stay ‘higher for longer’, and raise our thermal coal price forecast for 2019 to $85 a tonne from $75 a tonne and forecast for 2020 to $80 a tonne from $65 a tonne,” Citi says.

“We also revise up our medium to long-term coking coal price forecasts, albeit more modestly, by $10 a tonne per annum to $138 a tonne for 2019 and $130 a tonne for 2020.”