Coal price to rise as Japan rebuilds, Standard Chartered says
Asian benchmark coal prices may rise 5.1 percent next quarter as the biggest importer Japan rebuilds ports and cities devastated by the March earthquake and tsunami, increasing demand for the fuel, Standard Chartered Plc said.
Asian thermal coal prices are near their floor and any further steep price fall is unlikely, the head of Chubu Energy Trading Singapore Pte Ltd,a coal trading unit of Japan's second-biggest coal buyer Chubu Electric Power Co.``At around the per-tonne $90 level, we are beginning to see miners being forced to produce coal below cost,'' Kazunori Kasai, managing director of CET.The price could temporarily dip below $90, but a drastic fall, say 20 or 30 percent, is unlikely to occur as global production cuts and job cuts begin to take effect.