Fears of renewed flooding in Australia amid forecasts for heavy rainfall have encouraged Australian coking coal suppliers to seek higher prices in new offerings. Specifically, in the latest trade a 75,000 mt cargo of ex-Australia premium low-volatility coking coal (HCCLV), with October 21-30 laycan, was booked at $260/mt FOB Australis, up $5/mt from the previous trade. Apart from weather issues, the recent outage at Canada's Teck Resources may drive ex-Australian coking coal prices up in the coming weeks. Specifically, a two-month suspension of Teck's Elkview steelmaking coal operations is expected to impact the production of 1.5 million mt of steelmaking coal.
Meanwhile, the futures market has reacted appropriately. As of September 22, at Singapore Exchange (SGX) ex-Australia coking coal prices for September contracts have increased by $2/mt compared to the previous levels, reaching $264/mt, while for October contract prices have settled at $264/mt, rising by $9.67/mt.