Should ensure more interest is given to proposed takeover bid:
From AFR
Coalminers' hopes for a big increase in next year's selling prices have gained further strength amid reports that United States giant Peabody Energy has agreed a 25 per cent increase to $US68 a tonne. The rumoured deal with Japanese utilities follows reports last month that South Korean power producers had agreed thermal-coal contract prices of $US66 a tonne for 2008-09, up from $US55.65 for the current Japanese financial year, which began in April.
"It's yet another confirmation of the tightness of the market," Wood Mackenzie senior coal analyst Clyde Henderson said. "Demand is not deviating far from where people thought it was going to go. The supply side has disappointed." Disruptions include port and rail bottlenecks in Australia and in other exporters including South Africa, while China's soaring demand for energy this year has turned the country from a net exporter to an importer of coal. The demand crunch is unlikely to end soon.
RSP
resource pacific holdings limited
