Queensland Coal Chain under Recovering

Coal production and shipping operation shows improvement in Queensland, Australia, according to Japanese integrated steel makers and trading firms. Coal rail road service, QR national restarted the Blackwater rail line on Wednesday and some of coal mines restarted the operations. The coal chain situation is improving while the chain is still vulnerable for additional rain fall and the damage is expected to take more time to resume full recovery. With smooth recovery, overheated coal spot market could be cool down.

Queensland Resources Council reported Queensland’s coal operation is normal for 15% of the mines, restricted operation for 60% and stopped for 25% last week. Aquila Resources announced Isaac Plains coal mine resumed the production on Friday. Other mining operations are recovering. The coal shipping to ports is recovering due to limited availability of coal and rail transportation.

Spot Chinese coking coal offer price is around CIF US$ 350-360 per tonne. Spot US coking coal offer price is more than US$ 300 compared with FOB US$ 225 for Australian contract price January-March. Despite of the recovery in Queensland operation, the spot market price shows no sign to decrease so far.