Some more interesting news:Chinese thermal coal imports set to...

Some more interesting news:

Chinese thermal coal imports set to grow – BarCap

Chinese thermal coal imports should see healthy growth over the next few months, driven by a tightening domestic market and depleted stocks at the country’s ports and power plants, Barclays Capital said on Wednesday. Thermal coal imports to China surged by 135% to 10.9m tonnes in February, compared to the same month last year, as a result of an increase in cargoes from Australia, South Africa and the US, the London-based BarCap said in a report, citing official data. Although imports were 7% lower than January’s levels, following a trend of declining imports since the record performance in Q4 2011, market factors had already “set the stage” for a recovery on a month on month basis, the investment bank added. “First, there are tightening signs in the domestic Chinese thermal coal market... while port stocks have fallen by 10% since the end of February,” said analysts in the note. “Stocks at major power plants have also fallen by four days to 18 days at the end of February. Furthermore, the upcoming Daqin line maintenance for 25 days in April, which could potentially delay 7.5m tonnes of coals from entering the market, indicates that there is further room for price appreciation in the domestic market.”

Weaker international coal prices – with Newcastle prices for export from Australia USD 10 cheaper in January than the year before – were driving imports from Australia and South Africa particularly, the BarCap analysts said. “In an environment of falling international coal prices and weak freight rates, the arbitrage window for foreign coals to enter China has opened for even some of the most expensive coals, such as the butiminous coals from Richards Bay [in South Africa],” said the note. “Although the domestic prices remain capped, which means the arbitrage window could not open too wide, we still expect Chinese imports to see healthy growth in the next few months.”

Source: Montel

Colombian coal sector dependent on foreign investment: minister

Colombia's coal sector remains reliant on foreign investment as it seeks to make improvements to infrastructure, the country's Mining and Energy Minister Mauricio Cardenas said in an interview this week. Colombia, the world's fourth biggest thermal coal exporter, has no state-owned company in charge of the coal sector, which Cardenas said in an interview Wednesday is why it "depends completely on the initiatives of the private sector and that is why we need to cultivate investment." The country's largest miner, Cerrejon, a joint venture of miners Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Anglo American, has recently invested $1.31 billion in expanding its operations in the country. Direct foreign investment in the Colombian mining and energy sectors totaled $9.5 billion last year, up 94% from the $4.9 billion invested by foreign companies the year before.

Cardenas said that for many years, Colombian investment in coal exploration was low, but that "now the mining world is catching up." He added the government was striving to assure favorable conditions for investment, such as security in mining operations. Last year, left-wing guerrilla movement the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) struck in two separate attacks on the railway connecting the Cerrejon mine with the country's largest coal export terminal, Puerto Bolivar, disrupting production and exports momentarily. Cardenas earlier this year said that he expects thermal coal production to total 97 million mt in 2012, around 11 million mt more than the previous year.

Source: Platts