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.
|
|
Wednesday, 27 January 10
PEABODY ENERGY EYES 'RED HOT' ASIAN COAL DEMAND
US miner Peabody Energy has seen already-strong Asian markets become “red hot”, as demand for metallurgical and thermal coal strains sup ...
Wednesday, 27 January 10
KOLKOTTA BASED POWER UTILITY CESC LOOKING FOR 100,000 MT OF COAL FOR MAY & JUNE DELIVERY
COALspot.com (India): Kolkotta based power utility CESC, the flagship company of the diversified RPG group of India, has issued a closed tender to b ...
Tuesday, 26 January 10
FREIGHT COST ERODES INDIA CEMENTS NET
"Freight cost increased from an average of around 14% of sales in the previous quarters to around 20% in the third quarter"
The Decembe ...
Tuesday, 26 January 10
VITOL BUYS EXPORT SPACE AT COLOMBIA SANTA MARTA PORT
Global energy trader Vitol has signed a four-year deal to take export capacity at Colombia's 3 million tonnes a year Carbonsan port in Santa Marta, ...
Tuesday, 26 January 10
AUSTRALIAN FIRM TO MINE COAL IN WEST BENGAL
India Resources Ltd (IRL), a mining firm listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, has decided to enter into contract mining of coal in
India ...
|
|
|
Showing 6051 to 6055 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Economic Council, Georgia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- White Energy Company Limited
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Planning Commission, India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Australian Coal Association
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
|
| |
| |
|
