We welcome article submissions from experts in the areas of coal, mining,
shipping, etc.
To Submit your article please click here.
|
|
|
Friday, 05 March 10
COAL RALLY ON CHINESE DEMAND SPARKS $59 ESTIMATES
 Bloomberg reportd that, A rally that has boosted coal prices 21 percent from their lows last year may have further to go as the coldest U.S. winter in nine years and China’s record imports increase demand and drain stockpiles.
Prices will average $59.28 a ton this year, up 17 percent from $50.75 as of Feb. 19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and 41 percent more than last year’s low in April, according to the median of 11 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Stockpiles at utilities swelled last year after a mild summer and the economic recession reduced power demand.
China, the world’s biggest coal user, imported 16.4 million metric tons in December, a sixfold increase from a year earlier, customs data show. Record snowfall buried parts of the U.S., the second-biggest coal consumer, including Dallas and the mid- Atlantic states. The cold weather is reducing a surplus and giving producers Patriot Coal Corp., Consol Energy Inc. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. power to negotiate higher prices.
“We’re definitely bullish for a confluence of factors,” said Jeremy Sussman, senior coal analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co., a New York-based boutique investment bank. “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the U.S. The weather has definitely had an impact. The international market is front and center.”
Consol, the second-biggest U.S. coal company by market value, will jump 18 percent to $59 by the end of this year in New York trading, according to the median of 17 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Alpha, the third-biggest U.S. coal producer by output, will climb 22 percent to $57.46, analysts forecast.
Patriot Rises
Patriot rose 35 cents, or 2 percent, to $17.62, today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the highest price since Jan. 21. Consol added 3 cents, to $49.94. Alpha slipped 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $46.94. Massey Energy Co., the sixth- biggest U.S. coal producer, climbed 12 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $44.39.
Hedge funds have been buying energy producers, mining companies and airlines, a sign that managers from Louis Bacon to David Tepper are convinced the economy will accelerate. Duquesne Capital Management LLC, led by Stanley Druckenmiller, bought 6.2 percent of Massey, whose earnings are projected to double this year.
The increased U.S. and Chinese consumption prompted Michael Dudas, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, to raise his 2010 price target for coal to $70 per ton, a figure he originally forecast for 2011.
Coal Inventories
“The weather and better electricity generation have pushed stockpiles lower than people anticipated,” said Dudas, who has followed coal for a decade. “It’s really just accelerating that price.”
Utilities have 57 days worth of coal on hand, down from more than 70 days at the start of winter, according to Genscape Inc., a Louisville, Kentucky-based energy data provider.
“The pricing increases are real,” Consol Chief Operating Officer Nicholas Deiuliis said in a telephone interview. “If you look at the pricing increases we’re seeing now in regard to future sales, they have not only floored or held their bottom, they are starting to spike up.”
Coal is used to generate electricity and produce steel, making it a barometer for the economy. U.S. steel capacity utilization tumbled to 68 percent as of Feb. 15 from 91 percent in August 2008, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute, as unemployment climbed to 10 percent and consumers reduced spending 3 percent on appliances in December from a year earlier.
Prices Slide
The U.S. summer from June through August was 7 percent cooler than the same period a year earlier, reducing demand for power to run air conditioners, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Prices plunged 66 percent to $48.15 per ton at the end of 2009 from a record $143 on July 1, 2008, the steepest decline in at least eight years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 17 percent gain forecast by analysts would be the largest since 2007.
Utilities amassed a record 207 million tons as demand for coal to generate electricity dropped 12 percent through Sept. 30, according to the most recent U.S. Energy Department data. Consumption for 2009 was projected to be below 1 billion tons for the first time since 1995. The government will release final figures in March.
Producers cut back output as demand slumped and that’s having an impact even as demand rises. U.S. coal production will slump about 2.8 percent this year just as exports increase 5.6 percent, the Energy Department said Feb. 10.
Record Snowfall
The 2009-2010 winter season, which began Dec. 1, is the coldest since the 2000-2001 season and ranks in the coldest third of winters in the past 115 years, according to Jeff Masters, director of meteorology for Weather Underground Inc., a private forecaster based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The federal government shut down for four days this month after Washington was hit with a storm that set a seasonal snow total of 54.9 inches, shattering a 110-year-old record.
For St. Louis-based Patriot, Pittsburgh-based Consol and Alpha, based in Abingdon, Virginia, the frigid conditions are providing relief.
“The cold weather is the best thing they can get right now that’s not a full economic recovery,” said Daniel Scott, an analyst at Dahlman Rose & Co. in New York. “People are no longer scared to talk about thermal coal.”
Interest Rates
The risk to forecasts for higher coal prices is a glut of natural gas in the U.S. and prospects for the economy to stumble as the Federal Reserve boosts interest rates for the first time since June 2006. The Fed last week raised the discount rate charged to banks for direct loans by a quarter point to 0.75 percent to encourage banks to borrow in private markets.
“If the economy tanks again, that changes the outlook,” according to James Rollyson, senior coal analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. in Houston. “The economy and particularly this year natural gas prices are the variables. Coal lost market share to natural gas because we averaged $4 gas for the year.”
The U.S. relies on coal for about half of its power generation, compared with about 20 percent for gas.
Gas has to stay above $5 per million British thermal units to prevent it from being more attractive to utilities at the expense of coal. Natural gas for March delivery fell 14.9 cents, or 3 percent, to $4.895 per million Btu. Rollyson estimates that through November coal lost about 40 million tons worth of demand to gas.
Chinese Imports
China’s National Energy Administration said Jan. 25 that a coal shortage will persist through March. The country has maintained the record import pace set in December because of the country’s coldest winter in at least 50 years, according to Sutthichai Kumworachai, an analyst with KGI Group in Bangkok.
The country’s gross domestic product expanded 10.7 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2007, after the government introduced a $586 billion stimulus package that spurred energy consumption.
China’s appetite for coal led to imports from South Africa, diverting supplies from Europe and creating an opportunity for eastern U.S. coal companies such as Alpha Natural Resources, Consol and Patriot to increase sales across the Atlantic Ocean, Brean Murray Carret’s Sussman said.
This year Consol has sold almost 500,000 tons of coal into Asian markets, a 23 percent increase from the 400,000 tons that it shipped to the region for the first time last year, Dan Zajdel, a company spokesman said. As more companies follow, the exports will squeeze U.S. utilities, said Pearce Hammond, an analyst at Simmons & Co. International in Houston.
Lower Temperatures
“That’s essentially robbing utilities of coal,” Hammond said. “They don’t need it right now, but in the future they will.”
From the mid-Atlantic to the Southeast through the Gulf Coast into Texas, temperatures are averaging 4 degrees to 8 degrees below normal, said Tom Kines, a senior expert meteorologist with AccuWeather.com in State College, Pennsylvania.
“That is pretty significant,” he said.
The cold is having an impact as measured by heating-degree- day values, which have been trending higher along the East Coast and across the South, according to the National Weather Service. The value is calculated by subtracting the average daily temperature from a base of 65 degrees and is designed to show energy demand.
New York Weather
This month, New York’s heating-degree-day value is 572, or 36 greater than normal, according to the National Weather Service.
Coal prices will get a larger boost if the U.S. economy can sustain its recovery, Alpha Chief Executive Officer Kevin Crutchfield said in an interview. The world’s largest economy will grow 3 percent this year and next, according to the median estimate of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
“That would be the best thing in the quiver, a bona-fide economic recovery, especially on the industrial side,” Crutchfield said. “If you see any type of economic stimulus and economic recovery at all, that would hasten the recovery even faster.”
Source: Bloomberg - Mario Parker
If you believe an article violates your rights or the rights of others, please contact us.
|
|
Saturday, 13 March 10
OPTIMUM COAL AIMS TO RAISE R1,6 BILLION IN LISTING
All Africa reported that, COAL mining and exploration company Optimum Coal yesterday announced plans to list on the JSE at the end of the month ...
Thursday, 11 March 10
THE INDIAN MARKET WAS A BIT QUIET BUT STILL FIRM - FEARNLEYS AS
Handy - Atlantic activity has kept its firm tendency throughout the week for handies, with Atlantic RV´s fixed in the USD.16000 region. With s ...
Thursday, 11 March 10
COAL PRICES SET TO RISE AMID CONFUSION OVER QUARTERLY SYSTEM
Trading room reported that, Coal prices are tipped to rise in coming months amid constrained supply and ongoing Chinese demand, and analysts are con ...
Wednesday, 10 March 10
PROTECTED FORESTS NOW UP FOR GRABS FOR MINING
The Jakarta Post reported that, the government has just issued two new regulations on forests, which could allow protected forests to be used for co ...
Tuesday, 09 March 10
REGULATION NO.23 OF 2010 CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW MINING LAW, PROVIDES MORE CLARITY ON OBTAINING A IUP
COALspot.com: Indonesian government has recently issued another regulation related to Law number 4 of 2009 concerning mineral and coal mining. Two r ...
|
|
|
Showing 5946 to 5950 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- PTC India Limited - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- The University of Queensland
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
|
| |
| |
|
