Из телеграм канала Metals Wire
тезисно:
Энергетический уголь — предложение ограничено.
Цены на энергетический уголь могут продолжить расти.
Учитывая, что полумягкий коксующийся уголь может использоваться для производства электроэнергии, есть также некоторый потенциал роста цен на коксующийся уголь.
Thermal coal — the supply is limited
Thermal coal supply fails to keep up with demand growth. The coal sector is underinvested, given prior to the energy crisis the margins were low and the prospects were gloomy as many countries were reducing coal consumption
Moreover, China has issues with coal caloricity. According to industry sources, China’s miners are now switching to lower quality coal, as domestic price cap is almost 4x lower vs. spot price (with no quality adjustment). According to Reuters, some utilities in China are now consuming 15% YoY more coal due to its lower quality. As a result, in June, despite the 15% YoY increase in coal production, China’s thermal power generation fell 6% YoY
Coal supply is being further tightened by restrictions on Russia’s exports that used to account for 17% of the thermal coal market. In May, Russia’s thermal coal exports fell 23% YoY (-8% YoY in 5mo22). The situation will further worsen amid kick-off of embargo on Russian coal imports in EU in August
Coal and gas price dynamics
Energy crisis and tight gas supply led to the 80% increase in TTF gas price since the beginning of June (up 105% YTD). Meanwhile, thermal coal FOB Newcastle rose 7% since the beginning of June (up 140% YTD)
As a result of the growing demand for thermal coal and the weak demand for coking coal from steelmakers, some thermal coal prices currently exceed the prices of semi-soft coking coal that might be used as a substitute for thermal coal. In particular, thermal coal FOB Newcastle trades at USD 420/t, while Australian semi-soft coking coal price fell to USD 190/t
Thermal coal prices might continue to grow. As we noted previously, to replace 1kcm of gas, 1.1-1.3t of thermal coal is required, which implies an upside for coal price to above USD 1,000/t with certain limitations, such as lower availability of generation plants. We note that, given semi-soft coking coal might be used for power generation, there is also some upside for coking coal prices