Coking Coal Index : BHP Push Coking Coal Set Pricing
March 14th, 2010 | File Under : Coal - Steel - Trade & Market
PLATTS has launched the world’s first daily coking coal index as it looks to exploit a push by BHP Billiton to abandon annually set pricing.
BHP Billiton attempt to move to quarterly or index-based pricing has been quicker than most expected, sparking a number of data providers to look at starting up spot price indexes for coking coal, which is used in steelmaking.
As well as Platts, US-based Energy Publishing has started up a weekly coking coal index for exports out of Queensland, while Britain’s Argus Media is also preparing an index.
The two prices Platts will log daily are coking coal out of Queensland to any source and coking coal into China from any source.
Queensland is the world’s biggest export centre for coking coal.
Yesterday, Energy Publishing said coal spot prices out of Queensland before shipping slipped from $US234 to $US221 a tonne, though this included BHP quarterly contracts locked in at $US200 a tonne.
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