Nippon Steel, Glencore settle Q1 semi-soft coking coal

19 December 2016

Australian producer Glencore and Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel have settled the January-March 2017 semi-soft coking coal contract price at $171/mt, up 32% from $130/mt in Q4 this year, three sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

This comes after Nippon Steel inked a Q1 premium hard coking coal price for Glencore’s premium mid-vol coal at $285/mt FOB Australia at the start of the week.

S&P Global Platts assessed spot semi-soft at $138.60/mt FOB Australia Tuesday, up from just $63.45/mt FOB Australia at the start of the year.

Market participants said that while the $171/mt FOB Australia price was higher than expected for Q1 2017, the semi-soft-to-premium coal price ratio represents a multi-year low.

Source – Platts