Euro Coal Prices inch-up

LONDON: Prompt physical coal prices inched up by around by around 25-50 US cents a tonne on Monday, taking their lead from gains on oil and wider commodities markets.

Oil rose nearly 3 percent on Monday, extending gains into a fourth straight session after a strike halted Kuwait's crude exports and France and Germany pledged to come up with a plan to tackle the euro zone crisis. Separately, gold rose more than 2 percent, lifted by weakness in the dollar versus the euro.

"Oil is up quite strongly today, and that is certainly helping things, and commodities are up in general so it has taken coal with it," a European trader said.

"Nothing on fundamentals has particularly changed and prices have moved up 25 to 50 cents, which is not a huge move."

Coal has largely been immune to the volatility seen in other markets, although prices have slowly drifted lower by around $10-$15 a tonne since June.

Coal prices have been largely disconnected from fundamentals for many months, and the lack of buying interest from end-users in Europe and India ought to be reflected in lower prices, major coal exporters and end-users said.

A November South Africa cargo traded at $112.00 a tonne, rising by around 10 cents later on Monday.

A Dec DES ARA cargo traded at $119.25, rising by around 25 cents.

A December DES ARA cargo was bid at $120.00 a tonne.

A South Africa December cargo was bid at $111.00 and offered at $113.50.

Copyright Reuters, 2011