The explosive rise in coking coal prices is not over

After a prolonged and largely monotonous decline since 2011, coking coal prices have skyrocketed in recent months. The rise is supported by a combination of factors, some of which include reforms in China's coal industry and supply disruptions.

Spot prices for premium hard coking coal off the east coast of Australia jumped from lows in January of this year at $ US72.55 per tonne to $ US186.86 per tonne to $ US186.86 per tonne, according to Metal Bulletin, representing a neat gain of more than 150%.

Such price development cannot be completed quickly. The spike in spot prices for quarterly coal contracts in the coming years could be significantly higher than even the most optimistic forecasts.

Vivek Dhar, a mining and energy analyst at Bank of the Commonwealth, explains that a contract has been awarded to sell premium coking coal at $ US200 /t (FOB Australia) to Nippon Steel, well above expectations. While the contractual price of $ US92.5 /t (FOB Australia) is set as the benchmark. This is the largest increase since the third quarter of 2012, when the highest contract price was $ US225 /t.