Macquarie said in a note that it expects prices to pick up in the fourth quarter as utilities rebuild their stockpiles for winter.
"To be clear, we are not forecasting prices to race back to $120-130/ton... but we do expect a solid base at $100/ton plus," buoyed by Chinese thermal coal-power generation, which should rise 10% to 20% from current levels even if overall power generation remains flat compared with last year, Macquarie said.
