The rate of price increases for coal may beat oil and natural gas this year as disruptions from Australia to South Africa drive prices for the fuel to a 28-month high.
Thermal coal may climb about 14 percent to $150 a metric ton in coming weeks, while increased stockpiles limit gains for oil and natural gas, Joachim Azria, a New York-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group, said in report last week. Helen Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst, said coal may advance as much as 15 percent.
Power-station coal prices at Australia's Newcastle port, an Asian benchmark, increased 4.9 percent in the week that ended Friday.
Coal prices at the New South Wales port climbed to $136.30 a metric ton from $129.90 the previous week, according to the globalCoal NEWC Index.
"There's definitely more possible upside in the coal market at the moment than there is in the oil market," said Ben Westmore, an energy economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.
Spot prices at Newcastle in Australia, the world's biggest coal-export facility, have jumped 20 percent in under six weeks, according to England-based IHS McCloskey.
The floods in Queensland state shut mines and closed transport lines, disrupting supplies. Coal shipped via South Africa's Richards Bay, Africa's largest terminal for the fuel, gained 18 percent.
The flooding in Australia has cut coal output by about 4.5 million tons since the start of December.
