Some useful comments from Whitehaven coal results:
"The company said it was confident prices had bottomed as the Newcastle GlobalCoal Index coal price has rebounded off a low of $US48 a tonne in January to a high of $US67 a tonne earlier this month.
“Coal markets, after five years of declining prices, appear to have found a bottom in the first quarter of CY2016,” Whitehaven told investors.
“Several reasons for the increase in prices include mine closures in Indonesia, United States and Australia and policy change by Chinese authorities to limit coal production to 276 days per year. This policy change has the effect of cutting production in China by about 16 per cent.”
A funding package from the Chinese government to aid existing coal miners was also seen “having an impact”.
Whitehaven was cautious in the short-term with the risk of volatile conditions, but insisted the medium-term view was promising.
“Whitehaven is positive about the medium and long term outlook for coal, particularly the outlook for the high quality coal we produce,” Mr Flynn said.
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