Steelmaker United States Steel Corporation caught a big upgrade on Monday from analysts at Goldman Sachs.
The analyst raised its rating on X to “Buy” from “Neutral,” and lifted its six-month price target on the stock to $79 from $55. U.S. Steel shares had closed at $58.90 on Friday.
Posco, South Korea’s biggest steelmaker, said an agreement on coking coal prices for this year may be delayed because major suppliers of the steelmaking ingredient demand a change in the pricing system.
Coking coal supplier’s annual talks with steelmakers to improve the benchmark contract price for 12 months from 1 April. Raw material suppliers of steel demand change coking coal pricing system. Coking coal suppliers want coking coal prices per quarter than the annual contract.
Companies India’s largest steel maker, Tata Steel and SAIL submitted proposals to the government of India to obtain allocation of coal mines Coal India Ltd’s (CIL). Efforts to get the coal mines run by small for the anticipated increase in coal material procurement costs, especially coking coal, for energy in steel production process.
U.S. coal producer company, America West Resources signs LoI for coking coal operation in Shanxi Province, China. The coal mine will be operated is a coking coal mine owned by Shanxi Jiexiu Luxin Coal Gasification Company, a coal mining company in China. Luxin Company operates coal coking plant in Shanxi Province with annual production capacity of 600,000 metric tons.
Increased demand and coking coal prices in Asia gives hope to the U.S. coal industry affects the demand for coal stocks in the U.S.. Leaders in the U.S. mining company saw indications of an increase in demand for coal and rising coal prices.
U.S. mining companies expect an increase in coal demand and coal prices will help mining companies out the crisis facing today.
Analysts estimate the price of coking coal will rise to reach levels of $ 200 per ton in 2011. Indications of coking coal price increase is marked by increased demand for coal imports by China. Coking coal prices in the spot market have reached $ 175 per ton, compared to the price of coking coal in August of about $ 145 per ton. Industrial sector the most widely used coking coal is the steel-making industry.
BHP Billiton is pushing to drive the pricing of coking coal, which is used to manufacture steel, away from annual negotiations and towards spot prices, mirroring its successful move with the annual negotiations on iron ore.
The request by the world’s largest supplier of coking coal comes as it starts the annual negotiations with customers in South Korea, Taiwan, India and Japan, including the country’s largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corporation.
