Traders attributed Thursday's price action to recent falls in OTC valuations and strong positive trading in the European physical coal market.
Market sources said that while a bounce had been expected, Thursday's price direction may not necessarily become a sustainable trend.
NYMEX look-alike activity in the Q4 2010 contract remained elevated. The contract traded outright at $63.00/st for five barges, $62.25/st for five barges, $62.45/st for five barges, and at $62.75/st for five and 10 barges. In a spread, Q4 2010 traded over Q1 2011 at a discount of $1.25/st for five and
10 barges.
Q1 2011 traded Thursday at $64.10/st for five barges twice, $64.00/st for five barges and $64.25/st for five barges twice. Platts assessed Q1 2011 at $62.65/st on Wednesday. Q2 traded Thursday at $66.50/st for five barges, and $66.00/st for five barges. Both prices were ahead of the prior Platts
assessment of $64.50/st on Wednesday.
Q3 2011 traded outright at $67.75/st for five barges twice, $68.00/st for five barges twice, and in a spread of Q3 2011 over Q4 2011 at a discount of $2.00/st for five barges.
Q4 2011 traded at $70.00/st for five barges and at $70.10/st for five barges, and was reported to have traded once at $70.25/st for five barges. Calendar year 2011 traded once at $67.00/st for five barges while CY 2012 traded at $74.50/st for five and 10 barges.
In other physical trades Thursday, PRB 8,800 October 2010 traded for one train at $13.60/st, 15 cents higher than the prior Platts assessment, while Q4 2010 traded at $13.80/st and $13.85/st each for the delivery of one train/month.
CSX rail-delivered 12,500-Btu, -1% sulfur physical coal was reported to have traded once in the September 2010 contract at $68.00/st for one train.
Derivative trading was light, with reports of a CSX financial over NYMEX look-alike spread trade in the Q4 2010 contract at a discount of $5.25/st. CSX swaps in the CY 2012 contract traded once at $76.25/st for 5,000 st.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
