Whitehaven tips coal price rise
THE beleaguered thermal coal price will begin to increase this year, however poor Chinese demand will continue to put pressure on the market, Whitehaven Coal has predicted. In its December quarterly report, the Australian miner revealed it had sold a record 6 million tonnes of coal in the second half of 2014, most of which was thermal. Whitehaven achieved an average sale price for its export thermal coal of US$66.07 per tonne in the quarter, down from US$82.28/t in the December 2013 quarter. The benchmark Newcastle thermal coal index dropped 6.7 per cent during the December quarter. However, Whitehaven predicted the thermal coal price would record a “stable to gradual” increase in 2015, despite leading forecasters tipping a further drop...
