Price Of Hard Coking Coal May Double Or Triple In This Month's Industry Talks - Bloomberg

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The price of hard coking coal is set to rise to a record in 2008 after two years of decline, adding to pressure on steelmakers’ raw-material costs, analysts say.

The contract price may double or triple in annual negotiations this month between steelmakers and producers such as BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Rio Tinto, according to four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

China banned exports of coking coal in January to meet local demand, while flooding and port congestion trimmed shipments from Australia, reducing global supplies by at least eight-million tons, according to Sage Consultoria Tecnica, a Rio de Janeiro-based consulting company.

Asian and European steelmakers last month agreed to pay 65% more for contract iron-ore, setting a global benchmark. “Steelmaking levels are growing and the price agreements being negotiated this month should take hard coking coal to its highest-ever level,’’ said Andrew Jones, an analyst at Resource-Net, a Belgium-based research group.

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